A plan to change the way the state’s map of Congressional districts will be drawn after the 2020 census will be on the May ballot as Issue 1.

The Ballot Board voted to put before statewide voters the deal Republican legislative leaders had worked out with Democratic lawmakers and citizens’ organizations that had a ballot issue they were preparing for November. Ballot board chair and Secretary of State Jon Husted praised his former colleagues in the legislature for this deal, something he’d tried to do when he was a lawmaker. “I’d like to congratulate the members of the General Assembly for bringing this to us today, and look forward to seeing it on the ballot in May.”

Citizens’ groups had wanted to put the map-drawing authority with a bipartisan commission, but it stays with lawmakers, who agreed to concessions on limiting the amount of times counties can be split and requiring minority party buy-in for long-term maps.

