Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ohio Governor John Kasich joined legislative leaders to celebrate the passage of a bipartisan proposal to change how Ohio draws congressional district lines. Thanks to the legislative compromise Ohioans get to vote on Issue 1 on the May 8th Ballot. If passed Issue 1 would require more minority party participation in Ohio’s redistricting process and would set new criteria to limit how counties and municipalities can be split among districts. While leading a celebratory toast, Schwarzenegger congratulated Ohio’s legislative leaders for passing the proposal and said “cheers, everybody, and I want to make sure the people of Ohio hear loud and clear it is important to vote for this…if you vote for this, you will have true redistricting reform and better performance from the legislators on the congressional side and also on the state level.”
Schwarzenegger has been a longstanding champion of redistricting reform and is a strong proponent of efforts that minimize the role politics play in drawing political districts. Despite opposition from the Republican and Democratic parties he championed the 2008 ballot initiative that created California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission and which has, according to a recent report from the PPIC, drawn voting districting that are fair to each major party and have made elections more competitive.