By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Voters in Ohio will be deciding a quartet of election reform questions at the polls Tuesday, with a new poll showing Republicans poised to win their way on one or more of the issues.
Click in the video box to the right to watch a report by FOX News' Steve Brown.
The potential glimmer of success comes after a rough year suffered by the GOP in the Buckeye State.
In August, GOP Gov. Bob Taft pleaded guilty to not reporting free golf, dinners and hockey tickets. One of the state's biggest Republican fund-raisers, Tom Noe, is under indictment for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions.
Noe is also a central figure in the state workers compensation investment scandal involving the loss of nearly a quarter billion dollars.
"I don't think you can dismiss the environment that we're in these days. It's a hurdle we have to overcome," said Republican state Rep. Kevin DeWine of Fairborn.
Still, on Tuesday, Ohio Republicans are in position to defeat at the ballot box at least one of the four proposed changes to the state constitution. Ballot issues two through five deal with election reform.
"Our amendments will allow Ohioans to shape the future of their own electoral system," said Scarlet Bouder, communications director of Reform Ohio Now a group backed largely by liberals and Democrats.
The issues got on the ballot thanks to Reform Ohio Now's collection of more than a half-million petition signatures. Issues two and three — on early voting and limiting individual campaign contributions - appear likely to pass.
Issue five, stripping election authority from the secretary of state, is iffy. The issue Republicans dislike most is issue four, which proposes an independent panel redraw districts for state law-makers and Ohio's congressional seats in time for the 2008 election.
The panel's top priority would be competitiveness, making every district as close as possible to a 50-50 split of Democrats and Republicans.
"I think we have here a proposal that actually restores voters to their rightful place in elections," said Herb Asher of Reform Ohio Now.
Currently, the job of redistricting belongs to state lawmakers, who are mostly Republican, and a panel of statewide elected officials, which is comprised primarily of Republicans. That would explain why so many members of the Ohio GOP are against changing the map.
"If you look at the supporters of our effort, primarily it's backed by Republicans," DeWine said. According to a poll out Sunday, issue four is in serious jeopardy, trailing by double digits. The Republican-led opposition has been running television ads against the entire slate of Reform Ohio Now issues.
The ads were put together by the same agency that crafted the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads used against Sen. John Kerry in last fall's presidential race.
Reform Ohio Now is also running ads and stressing grassroots politics, hoping to boost turn-out. Unless Reform Ohio Now can swing the vast majority of undecided voters, issue four will fail, handing Ohio Republicans a rarity this year — something to celebrate.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/parties-go-full-tilt-on-ohio-redistricting-initiative