The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine still thinks the state’s redistricting process would benefit from changes, and he plans to push the legislature to move forward with a plan similar to the one used by Iowa , where nonpartisan staff draw lines but maps are approved by lawmakers.
In comments made to reporters on Thursday, DeWine maintained an opinion he brought up first in July when he publicly opposed the redistricting reform in the general election’s Issue 1: the current system isn’t working, and the system being used in Iowa would bring necessary changes.
“It seems to me that it’s very appropriate for the legislature to start looking at this again,” DeWine said at a breakfast for the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association.
The current method
DeWine was a part of the Ohio Redistricting Commission as it currently stands, one of five Republican elected officials on the commission, along with two Democratic elected officials.