Columbus voters will have a long-overdue chance to jettison an embarrassing city council voting district system that blocks true representation.
It is part of a 100-year tradition that has sapped the power of Columbus voters and kept the handpicked in control.
The Nov. 3 election can change things.
Two charter amendments −Issue 8from the grassroots Our City, Our Say coalition, which would create a district-only council system, and Issue 9, the city council's proposal for a hybrid at-large and district system − will appear on the ballot.
Many voters are likely to be confused by two ballot issues that are both complementary and competing. One rises to the top.
What are Columbus Issue 8 and Issue 9
Issue 8,the simpler of the two, would establish nine district-only council elections for
the first time in more than a century. Under the Our City, Our Say proposal, only voters living within a district could elect or recall the council member representing that district.
Issue 9, the council proposal, would include those nine council seats as well as four at-large council seats elected citywide, creating a 13-member council. Voting districts would be redrawn by an independent, citizen-led commission appointed by city council by March 1. A commission will be appointed in 2031 and then again every 10 years. The at-large council members will be phased in over two election cycles.
Early in-person voting starts Tuesday, Oct. 6. Monday, Oct. 5is the final day to register to vote.
Voter approval of both Issue 8 and 9 would mean approval of all provisions of both, so Issue 9 would be enacted. If only one issue is approved, its provisions will take effect.
Nothing changes if voters reject both.
Why we urge a 'yes' on Issue 9
Crafted by council following an attempt at a compromise with a group led by Jonathan Beard, a longtime champion for a ward system, Our City, Our Say, and other concerned residents and organizations, Issue 9 comes closest to delivering the true representation Columbus residents deserve.
Backed by Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans, who, before he joined council, voted against the charter amendment that created the current system and called it "stupid," Issue 9 includes the requirement that a citizen commission redraw voting district boundaries in 2028.
If done correctly, the maps will keep communities of interest together while avoiding the gerrymandering found at the state level.
Of the two proposals, Beard favored the city council's proposal over the one offered by Our City, Our Say because maps would be drawn that, in theory, would not dilute the political power of racial minorities by slicing geographically and culturally connected neighborhoods into multiple districts.
"The city has spent 60 years denying the Black community the right to elect candidates of its choosing. So the promise of 'we'll get our people in and then change the map' holds no currency with me," he told a member of The Dispatch Editorial Board.
Why change is long overdue
Neither proposal perfectly aligns with the interests of Columbus residents pushing for a replacement for the current system, which has voters citywide decide who wins in every district, ensuring that power brokers — not voters in the city's nine voting districts — decide who makes it on council.
Both proposals were developed in good faith and, if approved by voters, would replace a system implemented in 2023 that has blocked district-level representation.
It saw Tiara Ross beat Jesse Vogel in 2025 for Columbus District 7 even though Vogel, an Olde Towne East resident, decisively won the district. Supported by city council and prominent Columbus figures, Ross narrowly won the citywide election.
Under the current system, Columbus' nine council members are required to live in their respective residential districts but are elected in citywide votes. Ross moved Downtown from Reynoldsburg the day before the cutoff for her to be eligible to run in the election.
The current District 7 includes the Short North, Franklinton, German Village, Olde Towne East, the Near East Side, and downtown.
Issue 9 is better, but either it or Issue 8 would give Columbus voters new power to truly pick their council members, something that has not been the case in generations.
A long history and an illusion of representation
The city's current eyebrow-raising district system is like none other in Ohio and offers only the illusion of representation.
It is a response to a 2016effort led by Jonathan Beard and other Representing Columbus members that would have replaced the city's century-old system that elected seven council members at-large with one that, among other provisions related to the city's growth, would have had 10 wards and three at-large council seats.
Voters rejected that push in a landslide during that summer's low-turnout election and after a well-funded campaign to stop it.
Beard had tried since 2011 to get initiatives for a ward system or campaign finance reform on the ballot but, according to Columbus Dispatch reporting, was thwarted by invalid signatures or other errors flagged by city officials. City officials once claimed his group turned in signatures at the wrong office.
Council had been elected at-large rather than by wards since 1916. Because all members continued to be elected citywide, the district system largely preserved at-large elections under its current structure.
Seventy-six percent of voters in 2018 approved requested city charter changes that expanded city council from seven to its current nine members and required the election of one resident member from each district. City council approved the district map in 2021.
Add to this the fact that Columbus has a long track record of council members leaving office early, meaning replacement members are routinely appointed by other council members, and you'll see why citizens' groups have pushed for real reform.
Voters are often cut out of the process.
No challenger has successfully oustedan incumbent Columbus City Council member in nearly 30 years.
Why Columbus needs a hybrid system
Before proposing the hybrid system with its at-large and district-elected members, Dorans said council systems used in Ohio and in cities of similar size to Columbus, such as Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, were examined.
"A true hybrid system where you have wards and at-large is pretty normal," he said. "I think when you look at places like Cleveland and other places which are purely ward-based systems, there are at times concerns around one council member fighting another over resources for their district, which is why I think it is helpful to have this hybrid model."
Dorans and other council members argue that at-large seats are necessary to ensure citywide concerns do not fall by the wayside. Still, voters should weigh critics' concerns that those seats will be more beholden to the donor class than those voted in by district residents can not be discounted.
Our City, Our Say, a coalition of 20 organizations, could not reach a consensus about Issue 9 and has not taken a position on Issue 9, but Will Petrik, a spokesman, said he personally questions if at-large districts are necessary and doubts the people who hold them will have the same level of accountability as colleagues elected to represent districts.
"I hear the argument that, yes, at-large is thinking about the city from a big-picture perspective," he said. "I agree that that's a need. And my hope is that even city council members who are representing their neighborhood will also be thinking about affordability for everyone, filling potholes for everyone."
Under Issue 9, the council size will grow in size and cost - the 13 council members will have two staff members each - but we think it is the best option on the table to increase the likelihood that council members put the interest of their neighbors over the desires of the powers that be.
The required voting districts allow a level of protection for communities who have historically been cut out of the conversation and oppressed racially and economically.
Voters at the ballot box can ultimately decide if at-large members have gone astray or otherwise game the system.
A vote "yes" on Issue 8 - Our City, Our Say's proposal - will be a step in the right direction. A "yes" vote on Issue 9 goes even further.
This long, outrageous chapter in our city's history must close and close for good this time.
We urge a "yes" vote on Issue 9.
This piece was written by Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson on behalf of the editorial board of The Columbus Dispatch. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus voters must ditch rigged council system. The status quo must go | Endorsement
