BY SUSAN TEBBEN
While redistricting reform might not be on the ballot again this election season, the people who bring about initiatives and constitutional amendments aren’t sitting on their hands. The result of the 2024 campaign informed how advocacy leaders are moving forward, they say.
“I actually think right now is a critically important time for any future redistricting initiative, to keep talking about these issues, and to keep linking this problem to all the other problems around the country,” said Collin Marozzi, advocacy director for the ACLU of Ohio.
Ballot initiatives serve as an important part of making governmental change, one that many around the state see as one of the only ways, currently, to bring about change on which a Republican supermajority won’t budge, like reproductive rights or marijuana.
While an initiated statute on marijuana succeeded (though the legislative success is still to be determined), and reproductive rights were solidly approved to enter the Ohio Constitution, the most recent pass at redistricting reform to change to a citizen-run method rather than one run by elected officials didn’t fare as well.
While there were lots of reasons given on the defeat of the issue, the concept of bringing up a renewed effort amid a heavily populated and highly fundraised 2026 election doesn’t strike the right chord with participants in the previous effort.
“Though our resolve to bring fair maps and a transparent process to Ohio has not wavered, we are considering the strategic and political hurdles that stand in the way of a successful ballot campaign,” Marozzi told the Capital Journal.
Many things go into the process of putting a constitutional amendment or other measure on the ballot. First comes the motivation to circumvent the legislature if an issue hasn’t risen to the level advocates think it should, often after years of attempting to persuade lawmakers.
“Unfortunately, there are times that the legislature will not move and so the ability of every day Ohioans to pull out their clipboards and get something on the ballot is transformational,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.
Oftentimes, as Ohio has seen with property tax debate, just the shadow of an impending ballot measure could be enough to bring about at least some action with elected officials.
The language of change
When the needle doesn’t move, initiative leaders get to work, with the help of policy and legal experts, to put together the language that will frame the issue.
The idea has to be easy for voters to digest, but also legally enforceable, and able to extend change after the measure is approved by voters.
“We can spend all the money in the world on advertisements, in terms of what they see on TV, or what they see on their phones, but at the end of the day, the last thing that they see before they vote is that ballot language,” said Jeff Dieringer, political and research strategist with the labor union SEIU 1199. “And more times than not, that is going to be the determining factor of whether they check yes or no.”
It doesn’t help that issues that have failed recently statistically fare worse on future attempts, and a change to the constitution is going to start with a higher level scrutiny before the issue has even hit the table.
“If an issue is highly contested, voters are most likely to say no,” said Catherine Turcer, head of voting rights organization Common Cause Ohio. “Voters who aren’t sure are likely to say no.”
The 2023 reproductive rights amendment is one advocates point to as a good example of being easily understood, unlike the complicated and lengthy changes in the redistricting proposal.
“That was instructive, in that it was short, but is also tangibly understandable to the public,” Miller said. “(Voters) knew the rights we had before Roe v. Wade was gutted, and that this preserved those rights.”
Even with the right collection of words, whether or not the language remains the same from the advocates’ table to the official ballot is the source of struggle nowadays.
“Now we have to factor in … kind of the institutional role, and what is the worst ballot language that could be presented,” Marozzi said.
The Ohio Ballot Board, which has final say on what amendments end up on Ohio ballots, received a lot of flack for the changes they made to the redistricting reform amendment in 2024, in which they inserted language saying the redistricting commission would be “required to gerrymander” maps that establish the voting districts in the state.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld most of the changes, including that particular change, to the surprise of many.
“The language was so Orwelllian that I couldn’t imagine they would go along with it,” Turcer said.
But because of the success they saw within elected official-led institutions like the Ohio Ballot Board, even with moves they say were misleading and deliberately one-sided, those leading the charge for change see the need for a more comprehensive change.
“We’re not necessarily ripe for big systemic change at the beginning of 2026,” Turcer said. “But we deserve to participate in a democracy that is not rigged by things like gerrymandered district lines and ballot board shenanigans.”
While changing those who are in office could be a step forward, Turcer said the environment for change in Ohio has grown to include more than just individual elected officials.
“Lying has now become part of the process, and changing the guard could disrupt the system for a few years,” Turcer said. “But that doesn’t mean that one side or the other couldn’t just go back to dirty deeds fairly easily, because one political party is in power.”
Then comes the money
The art of bringing together a battalion of volunteers to gather the more than 400,000 signatures over more than 40 counties needed to even get the measure in the hands of those who might approve the language has seen its own changes over the years.
“You’re obviously not just submitting that amount, usually the goal is to aim for about double that,” Dieringer said.
Volunteers usually aren’t enough these days, advocates say, and money needs to go to entities who verify the signatures.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ballot measure that was wholly volunteer-based that successfully was able to qualify (for the ballot),” Dieringer said. “It’s just not possible, given the timeline that you’re doing.”
Like it or not, money is a driver for ballot initiatives to receive signatures, for information to make it in front of the eyes of voters, and in the end, for voters to make their decision.
“The language isn’t enough, and it’s not enough just to think about ‘can you collect enough signatures in time,’” Turcer said. “It’s not enough just to get on the ballot, you need to actually get people to vote for it.”
Getting across the finish line means marketing in the media, even through Indiana and West Virginia where markets overlap with Ohio. Radio campaigns work better in rural areas like Southeast Ohio, where broadband isn’t as reliable as in other areas. Social media campaigns are rampant now, and supporters and opponents alike need to get creative in how they go about pushing their view.
“Ohio is incredibly expensive (for elections), you have a very large population, and you have multiple media markets,” Marozzi said. “You really have to do a full landscape analysis to see where and how you’re going to raise the necessary amount of money.”
Also playing a factor in how advocates persuade donors and voters is whether or not the election could see a big turnout, like in presidential years, or during an off-year with not much in the way of other candidates or issues to attract voters.
“Donors don’t want to give large sums of money to an effort that is a coin flip if it’s going to win or not,” Marozzi said. “But also they don’t want to spend money on communication that’s ineffective.”
For now, Marozzi and other advocates say that means a less-than-favorable path to success for something like redistricting reform. But it doesn’t mean other ways of bringing about change are off the table.
“The League of Women Voters is not going to stop until we have stopped partisan gerrymandering,” Miller said. “But right now we are focused on making sure every Ohioan has what they need to participate freely and fairly in every primary and general election.”
Voters should put their eye toward the future by asking candidates what they will be doing to represent voter interests, and tell the candidates what voters need.
“It does feel like change is in the air, but when we think about politics, we shouldn’t just be thinking about the next election,” Turcer said. “We should think about the ways we can support each other and engage, everything from book clubs to attending public hearings.”
Talking with those in book clubs, and coffee shops, and congregations brings about the idea that there is agreement about what is right and wrong in Ohio, Marozzi said. Conversations happening outside the ballot box are important as voters wait to cast their votes.
“It’s not lost on people that … what (elected officials are) talking about is people’s votes not actually having any impact, and that leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths,” Marozzi said.
