PROJECT 2030

A Permanent End to Gerrymandering - Weighted Voting

88 House Districts

44 Senate Districts

Ohio currently has 99 Ohio House Districts

Ohio currently has 33 Ohio Senate Districts

Weighted Voting

Weighted Voting

Every County becomes a House District

Every Two Counties becomes a Senate District

How Weighted Voting Would Work in the Ohio House

In this proposal, every Ohio county becomes its own House district. Each district elects one representative, but not all representatives cast identical votes when the full House votes to pass or reject a law. Instead, each representative’s vote is weighted by the population of their county, so that larger counties have proportionally more influence without drowning out smaller counties.

Here’s how it works step-by-step:

1. Base Vote: Every county gets one full vote—no exceptions.

2. Extra Weight for Population: For every 100,000 people beyond the first 100,000 in that county, the representative gains an additional 1.00 vote.

   • Example: A county with 310,000 people would have 1 (base) + 2.10 (extra) = 3.10 votes.

   • A county with 95,000 people would still have 1.00 vote, never less than that base.

3. Fractions Count: Votes are measured to two decimal places, so counties just over the 100,000 mark still gain a slight boost.

   • Example: A county with 120,000 people would have 1.20 votes.

Committees vs. Floor Votes

Inside committees—where bills are drafted and refined—every representative still casts exactly one vote. Weighted voting only applies on the House floor when the full chamber decides whether to send a bill to the Governor or override a veto. This ensures small counties still have an equal say in shaping legislation, while the final passage reflects Ohio’s population distribution more accurately.

How the Ohio Senate District Map Works

The Ohio Senate, under this plan, is designed to mirror the principles used in the United States Senate. Instead of representing the population directly, each Senate district represents geography—specifically, two paired counties.

County Pairing

• Two-County Districts: Each Senate district consists of exactly two counties, paired so that large urban counties are often balanced with a neighboring rural county.

• Equal Representation: Every district elects one senator who casts one vote, no matter how big or small the counties are.

This means that the Senate represents the land area and ensures that rural Ohio has a strong voice in state government. Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) and Geauga County together have the same single Senate vote as Adams County and Brown County together.

Balancing Area and Population — Like the Federal Government

This system is intentionally modeled after how Congress works in Washington:

• The U.S. House of Representatives: Seats are allocated based on population; larger states have more representatives.

• U.S. Senate: Every state gets two senators, no matter how big or small it is.

In our Ohio plan, the House represents the people (using weighted votes to reflect population) while the Senate represents the counties (with one equal vote per paired district).