User:MerlinPendragon/Ohio Redistricting Commission

The Ohio Redistricting Commission is the redistricting commission for the state of Ohio. It is tasked with redrawing legislative districts for the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representatives (as well as the United States House of Representatives under certain conditions) following each decennial census. It was established following the 2015 statewide referendum on the Ohio Bipartisan Redistricting Commission Amendment, which passed with 71.47% of Ohioans voting "yes". It replaced the Ohio Apportionment Board, which consisted of the Governor, Auditor of State, Secretary of State, and two additional members representing the two largest parties in the state legislature.

The commission's responsibilities were expanded in a 2018 statewide referendum to include congressional redistricting in the event that maps proposed by the state legislature fail to receive 60% support of members in both chambers, including at least 50% support of the two largest parties.

The commission is composed of seven members: the Governor, Auditor of State, Secretary of State, one person appointed by the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, one person appointed by the legislative leader of the largest political party in the Ohio House of which the Speaker is not a member, one person appointed by the President of the Ohio Senate, and one person appointed by the legislative leader of the largest political party in the Ohio Senate of which the President is not a member.

State legislative redistricting
All state legislative plans passed by the commission must meet all of these standards:


 * Plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party.
 * The number of districts that each party can be expected to win based on the last ten years of statewide state and federal election results must correspond closely to the statewide partisan preferences of Ohio voters.
 * Districts must be geographically compact.

The procedure for state legislative redistricting is as follows:

Ohio House of Representatives

 * 1) The state population is first divided by 99 (the number of seats in the Ohio House). The resulting number is designated the "ratio of representation."
 * 2) Every county whose population is between 95% and 105% of the ratio of representation is designated to be a House district; these counties may not be split.
 * 3) Every county whose population is greater than 105% of the ratio of representation must be divided into as many House districts as the county has whole ratios of representation. That is, when the county's population is divided by the ratio of representation, the resulting quotient is the number of districts contained entirely within that county. Any remaining population may be joined with just one district from another county. For example, following the 2020 census, Ohio had a population of 11,799,448, resulting in a ratio of representation of $$11,799,448 / 99 \approx 119,186$$. Franklin County had a population of 1,323,807. Dividing this by the ratio of representation, we get $$1,323,807 / 119,186\approx11.1$$. This means that there must be 11 House districts contained entirely within Franklin County, with the county's excess population being contained within an additional 12th district that overlaps with one adjacent county.
 * 4) The remaining counties (those with populations less than 95% of the will be combined into districts, minimizing county splits wherever possible. No county in this category should be split more than once unless it is not feasibly possible to create a constitutionally-compliant apportionment plan without doing so.
 * 5) If a county must be split, it should be done so in a way that minimizes the number of townships and municipalities with populations between 50% and 100% of a ratio of representation that are divided between two districts.
 * 6) Only one township or municipality with a population between 50% and 100% of a ratio of representation may be split per district.
 * 7) In the event that it is not possible to create an apportionment plan that complies with all of the above, the commission may take the first action in this ordered list that allows for the creation of a plan:
 * 8) * Split two townships or municipalities with populations less than 50% of a ratio of representation.
 * 9) * Split a township or municipality with a population between 50% and 100% of a ratio of representation, even if doing so violates point 6.
 * 10) * Split one county whose population is between 95% and 105% of the ratio of representation. This county can only be split once (between two districts).
 * 11) * Split the excess population of a county whose population is greater than 105% of the ratio of representation between two districts.

Ohio Senate

 * 1) The state population is first divided by 33 (the number of seats in the Ohio Senate). The resulting number is designated the "ratio of representation."
 * 2) All Senate districts are created by combining three adjacent House districts.
 * 3) Every county whose population is greater than 100% of the ratio of representation must be divided into as many Senate districts as the county has whole ratios of representation. That is, when the county's population is divided by the ratio of representation, the resulting quotient is the number of districts contained entirely within that county. Any remaining population may be joined with just one district from another county. For example, following the 2020 census, Ohio had a population of 11,799,448, resulting in a ratio of representation of $$11,799,448 / 33 \approx 357,559$$. Franklin County had a population of 1,323,807. Dividing this by the ratio of representation, we get $$1,323,807 / 357,559 \approx 3.7$$. This means that there must be 3 Senate districts contained entirely within Franklin County, with the county's excess population being contained within an additional 4th district that overlaps with one adjacent county.
 * 4) Every county whose population is less than the Senate ratio of population but more than the House ratio of representation may not be split between multiple Senate districts.
 * 5) If it is not possible to comply with all of the above requirements, then the commission may create a Senate apportionment plan that violates as few of the above requirements as is possible.

Federal legislative redistricting
Redistricting responsibilities for the US House are primarily held by the Ohio General Assembly. A 10-year congressional apportionment plan will be adopted if it receives 60% support in both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate, including at least half of the members representing the two largest parties in each chamber. If this threshold is not met, then mapdrawing responsibilities are passed to the Redistricting Commission, which must pass with the support of at least one member representing both of the two largest parties. If the commission fails to pass a map, the process goes back to the General Assembly, but with a lower one-third support threshold from the two largest parties. If a map is still not passed at this point, a four-year apportionment plan can be passed with a simple majority vote in both chambers, but with additional standards requiring partisan fairness, minimal divisions of counties, townships, and municipalities, and geographically compact districts (the same standards that are applied to state legislative districts).

Membership
=== 2023 Commission ===

=== 2022 Commission ===