Ohio GOP leaders must loosen grip on power and create fair maps
Attacks on voting rights. Curbing the governor’s public health powers. Irresponsibly presenting a fanatical witness claiming COVID vaccines magnetize people.
That’s what gerrymandering in Ohio has accomplished as heavily partisan candidates win districts rigged in their favor.
And it may get worse despite the clear will of Ohioans.
The five Republicans on the sevenperson Ohio Redistricting Commission on Thursday presented a deeply red map for state legislative districts with their thumbs firmly pressing down the scale. We can only hope the final product due Wednesday will be fairer and win bipartisan support.
For now, the proposed map of Ohio Senate and House districts is a sham. An analysis shows Republicans likely would hold 67 of 99 seats in the Ohio House and 25 of 33 seats in the Ohio Senate. A map for Ohio’s congressional districts has not been proposed yet.
Critics would like the new districts to be in line with voting patterns that show 55% of votes going to Republican candidates and 45% to Democrats.
Senate President Matt Huffman, a commission member, claims that if Republicans drew maps that way, it would amount to gerrymandering. Apparently, the Lima Republican doesn’t understand the word.
Gerrymandering, says Dictionary.com, is creating election districts “to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.”
In Ohio, Republicans have all the power, controlling the governor’s office and the state House and Senate since 2011, including their current veto-proof majorities.
Democratic lawmakers, whether liberal, moderate or conservative, are shut out of the conversation led by a Republican supermajority created through gerrymandering. And moderate Republicans often don’t make it to the state capital, as those who best appeal to fans of Donald Trump are the ones winning primaries these days.
Most recently, Trump-backed coal lobbyist Mike Carey won the GOP primary last month in central Ohio’s Republican-leaning 15th Congressional
District. The GOP field was crowded in the race to replace former U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers. Carey will face state Rep. Allison Russo on Nov. 2.
The 15th District, by the way, is also the definition of gerrymandered, with parts of Columbus and all or part of 12 counties.
Ohio voters who overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments in 2015 (state districts) and 2018 (congressional districts) not only sought fairness in the makeup of districts. They voted for transparency in the map-making process, and they aren’t getting that, either.
The public is invited to comment on the maps submitted so far – four meetings are planned around the state Sunday through Tuesday. But how welcome is the public’s presence? The meetings weren’t announced until Thursday afternoon.
The commission members OK’D the Gop-made map as a working draft 5-2 (Akron Democrats Rep. Emilia Sykes and Sen. Vernon Sykes voted no).
We’re especially disappointed in commission members Gov. Mike Dewine and Secretary of State Frank Larose, who have made reasonable decisions in other matters. Could they not have prodded fellow Republicans to discuss ground rules and announce public meetings earlier?
Larose even pushed for fairer districts in 2017 when he was a state senator.
“My goal is to establish a redistricting process that does not favor the interests of one political party or another but that works for all Ohioans,” Larose said when he was a state senator.
Will Larose now back more gerrymandering?
Looming is Wednesday’s deadline that could mean fair maps for the next 10 years.
If no compromise can be reached toward fair maps, Ohio could end up with four-year maps that have as many problems as the old maps.
We urge everyone to contact the commission and lawmakers to demand fairer districts across Ohio.
Ohioans deserve fair districts. To ignore the spirit of the law is to ignore the people of Ohio.