Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Oct. 28, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

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Catching Our Eye

• Federal election monitors. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Feds will send election monitors to three Ohio counties next week.”

The US Department of Justice has informed three Ohio county boards of elections that the federal government will be sending monitors to observe next week’s election. It’s part of what is expected to be the DOJ’s largest-ever election monitoring effort, with the agency planning to send monitors to all 50 states.

The Boards of Elections in Franklin, Medina and Cuyahoga Counties were emailed letters informing them the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ intends to send election monitors to those jurisdictions.

• Gerrymandering. The New York Times reports, “An Extremely Detailed Ranking of the Most Gerrymandered States in America.”

Which state has America’s worst gerrymander? After a year of redistricting battles, we have an answer.

We’ve ranked all 44 states with more than one district by the fairness of their congressional maps. Many of the most notorious gerrymanders are ranked near the top of the list. But there are also some oft-derided maps that we judge to be fundamentally fine. (Ohio ranks No. 7 most-gerrymandered.)

• Ohio Supreme Court. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman reports, “Is Ohio on the cusp of an all-Republican state Supreme Court?”

Since Statehouse Republicans passed a law in 2021 requiring Ohio Supreme Court candidates to run under party labels on the ballot, reversing a century-old nonpartisan approach, Republicans have gone six for six.

If their undefeated streak continues, they’ll achieve the historically rare feat of total one-party control, a first since 2010.