Among the ballot measures for the current election in Ohio is
Issue 1, which would block statehouse gerrymanders. It is the third Ohio anti-gerrymandering ballot measure in eleven years. The
anti-gerrymandering measure of 2005 reached the ballot by initiative petition as one of a slate of four to address problems that arose in the troubled 2004 national election in Ohio. It would have torn up the Republican's map and given redistricting authority to an independent commission. The
anti-gerrymandering measure of 2012 also reached the ballot by initiative petition. It was meant to address the exquisite Republican gerrymandering of 2011. It also would have torn up the Republican's map, and would have given redistricting authority to a citizens' committee that could have no politicians, lobbyists, or big political donors in its membership. Both measures were backed by the Democratic Party and fought against by the Republican Party, both had significant advertising against them, and
both failed by
wide margins. However, the current anti-gerrymandering measure, Issue 1, reached the ballot, not by initiative petition, but by legislative action with a 28-to-1 majority in the Senate and an 88-to-8 majority in the House. It is supported by both the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Republican Party, and has virtually no advertising against it.
Compared to its forerunners, Issue 1 has some weaknesses, and also a strength:
- The main weakness of Issue 1 is that it does not apply to U.S. Congressional districts, but only to the Ohio General Assembly. So, it would block critters like the Statehouse gerrymanders pictured above, but would allow monsters like the Congressional gerrymanders pictured here:
- Also, Issue 1 would not redraw a map until 2021, after the next census, so the current gerrymanders would remain till then.
- Another weakness is that it keeps politicians drawing the map, but it does require a bi-partisan majority -- at least two votes from committee members of each of the two largest parties -- to pass a ten-year map.
- Another weakness is this loophole: If an agreement cannot be reached, a simple majority -- without the bipartisan requirement -- can pass a map for four years. But Issue 1 specifically bans favoring a party as a primary criterion for mapping, and specifies three public committee meetings, which might shine a light on any attempt to do so.
- A strength of Issue 1 is that it spells-out the mapping procedure step-by-step, so that it could fairly easily be rendered to a computer program. The procedure respects county, township and municipal boundaries, and works within a reasonably equal (within 5% of perfect) apportionment range.
Though a slow, half-way measure, Issue 1 is still progress. And once Issue 1 is passed, a follow-on issue could by placed by initiative petition, and stated quite simply, like:
Extend the authority of Ohio Redistricting Commission to drawing districts for the United States House of Representatives, under the same rules and procedures as for drawing districts for the Ohio House of Representatives.
Ohio 2015 Election Info
Image Credit
All gerrymander images (CC BY) TheParagraph.com. Ohio House
Source map from the office of the Ohio Secretary of State.
(From
The Paragraph.)
[Sources & Notes]
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By Quinn Hungeski, TheParagraph.com, Copyright (CC BY-ND) 2015