Redistricting Resolution Fails in Ohio House
House Joint Resolution 13, failed to get the necessary 60 votes to place it on the ballot November 7th.
HJR 13 sponsored by Representative Kevin DeWine is a proposed Constitutional amendment to change the process of reconfiguring legislative districts. Currently, legislative districts are redrawn after the ten year U. S. Census to reflect population changes. HJR 13 would replace Ohio's five member Apportionment Board of elected officials with a bipartisan board of seven members and enter in a new component to be considered, competitiveness. This was the legislature's promise to offer an alternative to the ballot initiative that failed in November 2005.
The vote was 58-37, strictly along party lines, just two short of the required sixty. Speaker Husted said he was disappointed the resolution was rejected on partisan lines.