COLUMBUS — Columbus voters are weighing what could be the most dramatic change to their city government in more than a century: whether to scrap the at-large system that has elected City Council for over 110 years and replace it with district-based seats.
Two competing charter amendments, Issue 8 and Issue 9, are both on the Nov. 3 ballot. Either one would end the current system in which every council member runs citywide. Under Issue 8, the entire council would be elected from geographic districts. Under Issue 9, district seats would make up a majority of the council, with the rest still elected at large.
In an unusual twist, the campaigns behind the two measures have agreed not to campaign against each other, even though the plans cannot both take effect as written. That pact has left the race without the kind of head-to-head debate that marked earlier fights over the same question.
Columbus voters have been here before. Similar proposals to move away from at-large elections have appeared three times in the past and were voted down each time — most recently in 2016, when the idea lost by roughly 40 points.
Supporters of district elections argue that neighborhood-based seats would make council members more accountable to the communities they live in and give smaller neighborhoods a stronger voice at City Hall. Critics have long countered that at-large members answer to the whole city and can weigh decisions with every neighborhood in mind.
Early voting is already underway in Franklin County, and Election Day is Nov. 3.
