Election Reforms can — PROTECT Democracy . . . and the Republic
GERRYMANDERING- OHIO
Unconstitutional Ohio election districts Suppress targeted Voters
OHIO ELECTION DISTRICT MAPS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
The Ohio Redistricting Commission drew up a series of state and federal Gerrymandered Election District Maps for the 2022 mid-term elections that were ruled Unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court on five (5) occasions.
VOTER AND DEMOCRACY SUPPRESSION THROUGH GERRYMANDERING
The Ohio Redistricting Commission was the only such commission in the United States that has openly ignored and defied multiple State Supreme Court Orders.
This small group of Politicians, who are opposed by moderate members of their own political party, continue to implement an anti-democratic plan called Project Redmap that began in 2011. Details of this plan are summarized in a 2021 article in The Guardian (below) that stated, “In Ohio, GOP operatives worked secretly from a hotel room called “the bunker,” as they tweaked a congressional map that gave Republicans a 12-4 advantage.”
These Ohio Politicians continue to wrongfully SUPPRESS targeted segments of Voters through Gerrymandering and other Repressive laws in order to retain POWER and CONTROL.
A Solution to end Gerrymandering
An Ohio Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission would eliminate Gerrymandering in the State.
Ohio Redistricting Maps - (Wikimedia Commons License)
IN THE NEWS
Published by Cleveland.com
B1.) Gov. Mike DeWine served on redistricting commission that violated Ohio constitution. Now he wants to ban politicians from the process.
By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com
February 17, 2023
“Gov Mike DeWine (has) endorsed the idea of dumping the elected officials in charge of setting Ohio’s political districts, in favor of a nonpartisan commission . . .”
“DeWine told the Toledo Blade’s editorial board this week that the way redistricting played out in Ohio last year shows the reform system voters approved in 2015 and 2018 already is broken.”
““Taking it out of the hands, frankly, of elected officials is probably a good idea,” DeWine said.”
(Jen Miller, president of the League of Women Voters of Ohio) “Miller said, “Politicians, sitting elected officials, are unable to put their own interests aside to make districts that truly serve the people of Ohio. So we agree, we need to have a constitutional amendment that calls for an independent commission.””
Published in The Guardian
B2.) “Republicans poised to rig the next election by gerrymandering electoral maps“
A supreme court justice described the last round of gerrymandering as ‘dishonoring US democracy’. Another round is about to start – will this be another ‘political heist’?
By Sam Levine
July 27, 2021
“Republicans executed the plan, called Project Redmap . . . Republicans set to work drawing maps that cemented their control on power for the next decade. Working behind closed doors, they were brazen in their efforts.”
“In Wisconsin, lawmakers signed secrecy agreements and then drew maps that were so rigged that Republicans could nearly hold on to a supermajority of seats with a minority of the vote. In Michigan, a Republican operative bragged about cramming “Dem garbage” into certain districts as they drew a congressional map that advantaged Republicans 9-5. In Ohio, (after the 2010 Census) GOP operatives worked secretly from a hotel room called “the bunker”, as they tweaked a congressional map that gave Republicans a 12-4 advantage. In North Carolina, a state lawmaker publicly said he was proposing a map that would elect 10 Republicans to Congress because he did not think it was possible to draw one that would elect 11.”
“This manipulation, called gerrymandering, “debased and dishonored our democracy”, (U.S. Supreme Court) Justice Elena Kagan would write years later. It allowed Republicans to carefully pick their voters, insulating them from the accountability that lies at the foundation of America’s democratic system.”
“The redistricting cycle arrives at a moment when American democracy is already in peril. Republican lawmakers in states across the country, some of whom hold office because of gerrymandering, have enacted sweeping measures making it harder to vote. Republicans have blocked federal legislation that would outlaw partisan gerrymandering and strip state lawmakers of their authority to draw districts.”
Published on Cleveland.com
B3.) “Ohio (Republican) Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor says she’ll join anti-gerrymandering effort after leaving office“
By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com
September 15, 2022
“ Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor said Thursday she plans to campaign to try to end gerrymandering in Ohio once she leaves office at the end of the year.”
” Reiterating comments she (Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor) made in a remarkable written opinion in January, she said an independent citizen’s commission should replace elected officials who are in charge of redistricting now.”
” . . . state legislative leaders have taken to effectively ignoring the court’s redistricting orders as they wait for O’Connor to leave office at the end of the year.”
” . . . O’Connor touched on redistricting, saying the reform measures voters overwhelmingly approved as state constitutional amendments in 2015 and 2018 have failed.”
Published by WSYX ABC 6 Columbus, Ohio
B4.) “Dubious distinction for Ohio GOP leaders: Only ones in US to ignore a court order“
by Darrel Rowland
December 30, 2022
“The state (Ohio) Supreme Court — the peak of the judicial branch — has issued a direct order (to draft a Fair Districting Map for elections in Ohio) . And Gov. Mike DeWine, Senate President Matt Huffman and Speaker Bob Cupp — the leaders of the executive and legislative branches — refuse to follow that order. (Other redistricting commission members defying the court are the state’s chief elections officer, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and top financial officer, Auditor Keith Faber.)”
“Except for the Buckeye State, “There isn’t a single state where a substantive court order has been ignored in redistricting,” said Yurij Rudensky, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program.”
Wikopeida Commons License
Published in HuffPost
B5.) “She Was The Most Powerful Woman In Ohio. But There Was One Big Problem She Couldn’t Fix.“
By Matt Shuham
January 18, 2023
“The maps, drafted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission . . . disproportionately favored Republican candidates, in violation of constitutional amendments that were approved by a wide margin of voters just a few years earlier, the court found.”
“Out of office, O’Connor hasn’t lost sight of the fight for fair districts. She says she’ll work to build support for a constitutional amendment in the state to create an independent redistricting process and “get the politicians, the elected officials, off the redistricting commission.””
” Even the redistricting commission’s Republicans seemed to know they’d gone too far. In a private message to his chief of staff that was later revealed as part of litigation, LaRose, the secretary of state, called the 81% rationale “asinine.” (“One of the only genuine utterances to come from him,” O’Connor observed.) “I should vote no,” LaRose wrote privately, just before voting “yes” on the maps.”
Published in Ohio Capital Journal
B6.) “Discussions underway to propose new redistricting reform to Ohio voters“
“Independent and balanced commission being considered for new ballot measure”
By Susan Tebben
September 15, 2022
“’This process (Redistricting) could have worked,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio. “It should have worked, and we have constitutional officers who have refused to actually follow what Ohio voters have put in the (state) constitution.’”
“’Ultimately, I don’t think the constitutional amendments failed. I think we had politicians who were hell-bent on rigging districts in their own favor,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.”
Ohio Capital Journal article by Susan Tebben 9-15-22
Published in Crains Detroit Business– from Voters Not Politicians
B7.) “Commentary: Citizens redistricting commission is working“
“Remove partisanship from election administration”
By Nancy Wang
Nancy Wang is executive director of Voters Not Politicians
December 10, 2021
“As the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission moves toward completion of its work (during 2021), those of us at Voters Not Politicians are pleased with its operations — particularly in comparison to how redistricting of congressional and legislative districts previously was conducted in our state and is still done in most states around the nation.”
“As we have seen in Michigan in the past, having politicians draw the districts is a prescription for devastating damage to democracy.”
“The Voters Not Politicians constitutional amendment, approved by 61 percent of the state’s voters in 2018, is working.”
“We await the maps, more convinced than ever that having voters, not politicians, draw election district lines has been one of the state’s most important and positive political reforms since our current state constitution was approved in 1963.”
Published by The Guardian
B8.) ‘This is a war’: Republicans ramp up bid to control election maps for next decade
By Shilpa Jindia
June 22, 2020
” The RSLC (Republican State Leadership Committee ) has gone to extreme lengths to undertake its mission, changing the political landscape in the process. In the run-up to the 2010 midterms, it led an unprecedented strategy, the Redistricting Majority Project, or Redmap, to flip legislatures in competitive states.”
“Once in charge, Republicans manipulated district maps to their advantage, a tactic known as gerrymandering. “He who controls redistricting can control Congress,” (Carl) Rove famously said in 2010.”
“A 2019 USC study found that 59 million Americans now live under minority rule, where the party that receives the minority share of the vote in a state election controls the majority of seats in the subsequent state legislature.”
“Rigged maps and their corrosive effects on democracy have drawn fierce protests in states like Wisconsin and Michigan over the past decade.”
“Revealed: conservative group fighting to restrict voting tied to powerful dark money network”
Published by The Fulcrum
B9.) “Like Citizens United, Moore v. Harper could haunt American democracy“
By David O’Brien
David O’Brien serves as Policy Director at RepresentUs. He is an attorney focusing on legislation and policy issues.
January 20, 2023
“The effects of Citizens United were immediate and long-lasting. The nonpartisan organization Open Secrets found that in the two decades before Citizens United, non-party outside groups (dark money) spent $750 million on campaigns. In the one decade since Citizens United, that number exploded to $4.5 billion– a six-fold increase.”
“But if you thought post-Citizens United was a seismic shift, the post-Moore world could be even bigger. Where Citizens United opened the floodgates to big money in politics, Moore v. Harper could all but eliminate checks and balances at the state level.”
“They (some extremist State Legislatures) rely on a fringe interpretation of the U.S. Constitution called the independent state legislature theory (ISL). Under extreme versions of ISL, state legislatures could have unchecked power at the state level over federal elections, unrestrained by state courts and constitutions. That means that when it comes to federal elections, regular checks and balances in the lawmaking process could be at risk – including state court review, ballot initiatives, and gubernatorial vetoes.”
“Nothing can stop the Court from upending years of precedent and practice if it wants to side with special interests over democracy and politicians over voters.”
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