The commission consists of Governor Mike DeWine, Auditor Keith Faber, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and four people appointed by the Senate President, Senate Minority Leader, Speaker of the House and the House Minority Leader.  

As of November 2025, Representative Brian Stewart and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio serve as co-chairs of the commission. House Minority Leader Dani Isaacson and Senator Jane Timken fill the remaining two seats.  

Because Ohio is a republican state, five of the seven seats on the commission are filled by republicans, meaning many of the maps the commission passed in recent years favored republican candidates, continuing Ohio's reputation as an extremely gerrymandered state. 

Trautman said gerrymandering dilutes voters’ voices, specifically voters from marginalized communities.  

“Gerrymandering has a significant impact upon the degree of representation and specifically, depending on the way maps are drawn, it could substantially suppress the votes of particular groups and most notably, those groups that are protected groups,” she said.  

When the commission also failed to pass a bipartisan map in 2021, the process started over again in the General Assembly. This back-and-forth continued until the commission finally passed its most recent map in October. 

Throughout this process, members of the public became frustrated with Ohio’s redistricting process and began looking for a change. 

That’s where Issue One came in.  

The Issue with Issue One

Issue One was a constitutional amendment introduced by the citizen-led organization, Citizens Not Politicians, and sought to completely overhaul the state’s redistricting process.  

Instead of the seven-member commission of state officials, the initiative proposed a 15-member commission of appointed civilians randomly picked by a pool of applicants. In theory, there would be an even number of Democrats, Republicans and members of neither major political party on the new commission.  

According to Issue One’s official ballot language, the initiative would, “repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved by nearly three-quarters of Ohio electors participating in the statewide elections of 2015 and 2018, and eliminate the longstanding ability of Ohio citizens to hold their representatives accountable for establishing fair state legislative and congressional districts."  

When describing the arguments against Issue One, the ballot language read, “Issue 1 is a cynical attempt to trick Ohio voters by promising to end gerrymandering and empower citizens when in fact the amendment forces gerrymandering in the Ohio constitution and removes accountability to Ohio voters.” 

These were just two examples of the confusing language the Ohio Ballot Board approved, which made voters question what they were voting for and what voting for or against would mean for the next redistricting cycle.  

Throughout Issue One’s rocky road to the ballot, even state lawmakers who supported the initiative recognized structural issues within it. 

While Democratic Senator Bill DeMora supported Issue One at the time, he said he was concerned at the prospect of having an entirely citizen-led commission in charge of redistricting. 

“I think (Issue One) was overly prescriptive, overly denying (of) people that should be on there because, again no offense to the average citizen of Ohio, they don’t understand the process,” DeMora said. “They don’t understand what it actually means between redistricting, reapportionment and everything in between. And if you don’t have somebody on there that actually knows what they’re doing, you’re going to have a flawed system.” 

"The hypocrisy is glaring."

Ultimately, Issue One failed to pass – only receiving 46.29% of the popular vote in favor of it, with 53.71% of voters against it.  

Athens resident Dr. Wenda Sheard supported Issue One and testified against the maps proposed by the Ohio Redistricting Commission at the Ohio Statehouse.  

Sheard also ran for office the same year Issue One was on the ballot. She ran to represent Ohio House District 94 against republican candidate Kevin Ritter but lost the race.  

With both her experiences as a candidate and as a voter, Sheard understands the importance of including voters’ voices in the redistricting process.  

During her testimony on Sept. 30 in front of the commission, Sheard criticized the commissioners for going against the people’s wishes.  

“The hypocrisy is glaring,” she said. “On the one hand, many of you campaign on the importance of law and order, the Constitution and the voice of the people, yet in practice, you have ignored court rulings, manipulated ballot language to mislead voters on more than one occasion and chosen power over principle.” 

Sheard also said the passage of Ohio’s new district map did not assuage her concerns about gerrymandering. 

“We, the voters, are tired of unfair maps. We understand what happens when maps are drawn unfairly and politicians enshrine themselves in positions of power, and there’s very little voters can do to change that,” Sheard said. “We need fair maps where every person’s voice will be heard, not just the voice of a minority of voters.” 

DeMora echoed Sheard’s sentiment. 

“Competitiveness is what we’re all seeking, at least that’s what I’m seeking,” he said. “What I think most people want is to not have overwhelming one party or another, but to have as many competitive seats as possible.” 

Voters ask for accountability

Trautman also weighed in on what key factors she thinks the state needs to consider when the time comes for Ohio to draw its next map.  

“There has to be a concern about fairness, there has to be a concern about political balance and ... there has to be a concern about inclusive representation. After all, a democratic polity suggests that should be a reality, a democratic polity suggests that individuals should have the right to political equality,” Trautman said. “When they draw these in a way that is biased, obviously that is muting the voices ... of some voters across this country.” 

Ohio will need to draw another district map in 2031, in accordance with the Ohio Constitution.  

In the meantime, Trautman said it is time for voters to get involved in the redistricting process. 

“I think the best way to handle this is for citizens to become informed, citizens to engage in coalitional politics and to hold the elected officials accountable,” Trautman said.  

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