Tough to live up to promise of representative democracy
Representation is an essential but troubled element of American democracy. The entire U.S. political system is built on an idea of representation. Indeed, representative government is guaranteed to every state by the Constitution.
With few exceptions (like statewide ballot initiatives, school levies, and referenda), decisions of public importance are made by elected representatives. So, it’s important to ask questions about what representation means, what it looks like, and why redistricting and potential gerrymandering continue to puzzle our politics. The troubles arise from how we create representative government.
As laid out in the Constitution, a census is completed every 10 years. From this count, states are apportioned representatives for the House of Representatives. No matter the geographic space, each district must have roughly the same number of people. In Ohio, the General Assembly is made up of 99 districts, and the Ohio State Senate is made up of 33 districts.
Population change and where people live certainly complicate matters. These two seemingly non-political elements factor into questions about representation because of how we elect representatives. Ohio, like almost every other state, uses single-member districts and the plurality rule. This means one person represents a district and that he/she is elected by winning the most votes, not necessarily a majority.
Representation and redistricting become problematic because the decisions of how we draw the district boundaries involve political questions. And politics is about power: Who has it and wants to keep it and who wants it. Redistricting does not have to lead to gerrymandering, but it often does. Gerrymandering is creating legislative district boundaries to benefit the party in power. Redistricting is front and center because it can lead to misrepresentation.
And questions about representation are not new. The Constitution created a political system with a promise of representative democracy but it began like a representative oligarchy, where the business of government was for the privileged few and where landless men, women and minorities were excluded. It was not until voting rights were extended and protected by laws and Constitutional amendments that the promise of representative democracy had a clear path forward. Indeed, today the path toward representative democracy is an electoral system of free and fair elections. An electoral process where political leaders compete for public support and where those votes are translated into representation fairly.
One last thing: competition. In the 2020 election 23 of the 99 seats were uncontested by one of the two major parties. In addition, 21 of the 99 were won by 40% or more. That’s 44 of 99 seats that are clearly non-competitive.
Representation is an essential element of American’s democratic republic. Creating an electoral system that lives up to the promise of representative democracy is a challenge that should not be ignored for another 10 years.