CLEVELAND, Ohio - The 2010 vote might end up being the election that keeps on giving for Ohio Republicans for 20 years.

This is because a proposal introduced in the Ohio Senate to change how the next congressional map is determined for 2022-2032 keeps control in the hands of a Statehouse majority that is especially strong because of the gerrymandered map created after the GOP's big wins in 2010.

The lone Democrat and lone no vote on the new map approved by the 2011 apportionment board came from House Minority leader Armond Budish, who argued at the time that it basically "quarantines" Democrats in a third of the districts statewide.

The election results since then bear that out, a new cleveland.com analysis found.

Read cleveland.com series Out of Line: Impact 2017 and Beyond, in search of a way to eliminate gerrymandering in Ohio.

Majority agrees; old system was wrecked

The process of drawing Statehouse maps in 2011 - following the 2010 election - was deemed to be so bad that Ohio voters have since amended Ohio's Constitution with a reform backed by both Republicans and Democrats.

But that reform, taking effect in 2021, did not address congressional redistricting.

That's what a new proposal introduced this week by Republican Sen. Matt Huffman of Lima would do.

His plan to change congressional redistricting needs support from 60 percent of the House and 60 percent of the Senate - but not the governor - to make it to the May ballot, where voters would get a chance to decide. The Republicans have more than 60 percent in each chamber.

Huffman's plan would add some restraints to how cities and villages could be split in drawing new congressional districts. And for maps to be approved for 10 years, at least some support for the minority party would be needed.

The state legislature would have the first shot at drawing new maps, and could approve them with a 60 percent overall vote, including at least a 30 percent vote from among the minority party.

This would be a change from the current process, which requires simple majorities by the House and Senate and approval form the governor.

Potential fallout

But here's why that approval process is not as inclusive as it might sound, given the nature of the legislature put in place by the last gerrymandering.

An alternative

Separate from Huffman's plan introduced in the Ohio Senate, the Ohio League of Women Voters, Common Cause Ohio and other groups since last year have been circulating petitions with their own reform proposal. They have close to 200,000 of the required 305,591 signatures.

Their plan would prioritize drawing maps that make geographic sense, balance the districts politically and establish more say in the process for the political party in the minority.

But, under the referendum process, the proposal in the petition cannot go before voters until November.

If the Ohio House and Ohio Senate act by Feb . 7, the legislature could place its proposed change on the May ballot.

It is unclear what would happen to the petition effort if voters first approve a proposal by the legislature.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.

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