Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, | 11 |
three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring | 12 |
herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the | 13 |
state, in the manner prescribed by law at the special election to | 14 |
be held on May 4, 2010, a proposal to amend Sections 1, 2, 6, 12, | 15 |
13, and 15 of Article XI, to amend, for the purpose of adopting | 16 |
new section numbers as indicated in parentheses, Sections 6 (3), | 17 |
12 (6), 13 (7), and 15 (9) of Article XI, and to enact new | 18 |
Sections 4, 5, and 8 of Article XI of the Constitution of the | 19 |
State of Ohio to read as follows: | 20 |
1. (A) The governor, auditor of state, secretary of | 21 |
state, one person chosen by the speaker of the house of | 22 |
representatives and the leader in the senate of the political | 23 |
party of which the speaker is a member, and one person chosen by | 24 |
the legislative leaders in the two houses of the major political | 25 |
party of which the speaker is not a member shall be the persons | 26 |
responsible for the apportionment of this state for members of the | 27 |
general assembly and shall collectively be referred to as the | 28 |
apportionment board. The apportionment board shall decide all | 29 |
matters coming before it by a majority vote of its members present | 30 |
at any meeting. Members of the board may be represented by their | 31 |
respective designees at any meeting of the board. | 32 |
Such persons(B) The apportionment board, or a majority of | 33 |
their numberits members, shall meet and establish in the manner | 34 |
prescribed in this Articlearticle an apportionment of the state | 35 |
that defines the boundaries for each of ninety-nine house of | 36 |
representatives districts and thirty-three senate districts by the | 37 |
first day of October of the year in which the board convenes. Such | 38 |
meeting shall convene on a date designated by the governor between | 39 |
August 1 and October 1 in the year one thousand nine hundred | 40 |
seventy-one and every tenth year thereafter. The | 41 |
(C) All meetings of the apportionment board shall be open to | 42 |
the public. The apportionment board shall be convened by the | 43 |
governor, who shall preside at its meetings, not later than the | 44 |
third Tuesday in January in each year ending in the numeral one. | 45 |
The governor shall give such persons two weeksone week's advance | 46 |
public notice of the date, time, and place of sucheach | 47 |
apportionment board meeting. The board may adopt procedural rules | 48 |
for its operation. | 49 |
(B) The population of each house of representatives district | 70 |
shall be substantially equal to the ratio of representation in the | 71 |
house of representatives, as provided in division (A) of this | 72 |
section, and in no event shall any house of representatives | 73 |
district contain a population of less than ninety-five per cent | 74 |
nor more than one hundred five per cent of the ratio of | 75 |
representation in the house of representatives. | 76 |
Section 6 3. (A) District boundaries established pursuant to | 87 |
this Articlearticle shall not be changed until the ensuing | 88 |
federal decennial census and the ensuing apportionment or as | 89 |
provided in section 137 of this Articlearticle, notwithstanding | 90 |
the fact that boundaries of political subdivisions or city wards | 91 |
within the district may be changed during that time. District | 92 |
boundaries shall be created by using the boundaries of political | 93 |
subdivisions
and city wards as they exist at the time of the | 94 |
federal decennial census on which the apportionment is based, or | 95 |
if unavailable, on such other basis as the general assembly has | 96 |
directed. | 97 |
(a) Using the results of all nonjudicial Ohio statewide state | 116 |
or federal elections in the ten years immediately preceding the | 117 |
year of an apportionment, the secretary of state shall determine | 118 |
the three elections that had the smallest percentage margin | 119 |
between the highest and second highest nominees of a political | 120 |
party. If in any of the three elections the percentages of the two | 121 |
highest nominees of political parties do not equal one hundred per | 122 |
cent, the remaining percentage for that election shall be | 123 |
attributed to the parties of the two highest nominees in the ratio | 124 |
of the percentages received by those nominees. | 125 |
(3) Establish and make public the precinct partisan index of | 132 |
each election precinct. To establish the precinct partisan index | 133 |
for each precinct in the state, the secretary of state shall add | 134 |
together the percentage of the vote received in that precinct by | 135 |
the political party nominees described in division (A)(2)(a) of | 136 |
this section. If in any of the three elections the percentages of | 137 |
those nominees do not equal one hundred per cent, the remaining | 138 |
percentage for those nominees in those elections shall be | 139 |
attributed to the parties of those nominees in the ratio of the | 140 |
percentages received by those nominees. The secretary of state | 141 |
shall then divide the percentage totals by three to establish the | 142 |
precinct partisan index for each political party in each precinct | 143 |
in the state. | 144 |
(b) The district partisan index shall be calculated by first | 190 |
adding together, for each of the elections represented in the | 191 |
calculation of the statewide partisan index, the number of votes | 192 |
cast in each precinct in a proposed district for the nominees of | 193 |
each of the political parties in those elections. The | 194 |
district-wide vote totals for the nominee of each party in each of | 195 |
the three elections shall be used to determine the district | 196 |
partisan ratio for each of those three elections by determining, | 197 |
from all votes cast for either such party in each election, the | 198 |
percentage of votes cast for the nominee of each party in each | 199 |
election. The average of those three percentages for each party | 200 |
will establish the district partisan index for each party in each | 201 |
proposed district. | 202 |
(F) Any map, with respect to the categories set forth in | 218 |
divisions (E)(2) to (5) of this section, that has an equal number | 219 |
of proposed districts in which the district partisan index favors | 220 |
each political party which is represented in the state partisan | 221 |
index in each of those categories will be deemed a better map than | 222 |
one which has an unequal number of proposed districts in which the | 223 |
district partisan index favors each political party in each of | 224 |
those categories. | 225 |
(H) If no map is presented that meets the criteria set forth | 231 |
in division (F) of this section, or if two or more maps equally | 232 |
meet the criteria set forth in division (G) of this section, the | 233 |
map with closest to an equal number of proposed districts in which | 234 |
the district partisan index favors each political party in each of | 235 |
the categories set forth in division (E) of this section will be | 236 |
deemed a better map than one which has a greater variance from an | 237 |
equal number of proposed districts in which the district partisan | 238 |
index favors each political party in those categories. | 239 |
(K) If two or more maps are presented that equally meet the | 250 |
criteria set forth in division (J) of this section, the map with | 251 |
the lowest compactness index will be deemed a better map than | 252 |
others with a higher compactness index. For the purpose of this | 253 |
division, the compactness index will be calculated by averaging | 254 |
the compactness of all proposed districts in the map. The | 255 |
compactness of each proposed district shall be determined by | 256 |
dividing the area of the proposed district by its perimeter. | 257 |
(B) At any time the boundaries of senate districts are | 279 |
changed in any plan of apportionment made pursuant to any | 280 |
provision of this Articlearticle, a senator whose term will not | 281 |
expire within two years of the time the plan of apportionment is | 282 |
made shall represent, for the remainder of the term for which
he | 283 |
the senator was elected, the senate district which contains the | 284 |
largest portion of the population of the district from which he | 285 |
the senator was elected, and the district shall be given the | 286 |
number of the district from which the senator was elected. If more | 287 |
than one senator whose term will not so expire would represent the | 288 |
same district by following the provisions of this section, the | 289 |
persons responsible for apportionment, by a majority of their | 290 |
number,board shall designate which senator shall represent the | 291 |
district and shall designate which district the other senator or | 292 |
senators shall represent for the balance of their term or terms. | 293 |
Section 13 7. The supreme court of Ohio(A) Notwithstanding | 294 |
any provision of this Constitution or any law, the apportionment | 295 |
special tribunal established in division (B) of this section shall | 296 |
have exclusive, original jurisdiction in all cases and questions | 297 |
of law arising under this Articlearticle. In the event that any | 298 |
section of this Constitution relating to apportionment or any plan | 299 |
of apportionment made by the persons responsible for | 300 |
apportionment, by a majority of their number,board is determined | 301 |
to be invalid by either the supreme court of Ohio,apportionment | 302 |
special tribunal or the supreme court of the United Statesby an | 303 |
unappealed final order of a federal court of competent | 304 |
jurisdiction, then notwithstanding any other provisions of this | 305 |
Constitution, the persons responsible for apportionment by a | 306 |
majority of their numberboard shall ascertain and determine | 307 |
convene to establish a plan of apportionment in conformity with | 308 |
such provisions of this Constitution as are then valid, including | 309 |
establishing terms of office and election of members of the | 310 |
general assembly from districts designated in the plan, to be used | 311 |
until the next regular apportionment in conformity with such | 312 |
provisions of this Constitution as are then valid. | 313 |
(E) The apportionment special tribunal shall operate using | 345 |
the rules of the Ohio supreme court, except as clearly | 346 |
inapplicable, and shall have all of the constitutional and | 347 |
statutory authority that the Ohio supreme court would have if it | 348 |
had jurisdiction to review cases and certified questions arising | 349 |
under this article, but at no time shall the tribunal or any other | 350 |
court order the establishment or implementation of any | 351 |
apportionment plan or the establishment or implementation of any | 352 |
house of representatives or senate district boundary map that has | 353 |
not been approved by the apportionment board in the manner | 354 |
prescribed by this article. | 355 |
If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this | 371 |
proposal, Sections 1, 2, 6 (3), 12 (6), 13 (7), and 15 (9) of | 372 |
Article XI amended or amended and renumbered by this proposal and | 373 |
new Sections 4, 5, and 8 of Article XI enacted by this proposal | 374 |
shall take effect on January 1, 2011, and existing Sections 1, 2, | 375 |
6, 12, 13, and 15 and Sections 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14 of | 376 |
Article XI of the Constitution of Ohio are repealed from that | 377 |
effective date. | 378 |
The amendments to Section 12 (6) of Article XI of the Ohio | 380 |
Constitution in part substitute gender neutral for gender specific | 381 |
language. These gender neutralizing amendments are not intended to | 382 |
make a substantive change in the Ohio Constitution. The gender | 383 |
neutral language is to be construed as a restatement of, and | 384 |
substituted in a continuing way for, the corresponding gender | 385 |
specific language existing prior to adoption of the gender | 386 |
neutralizing amendments. | 387 |