There’s a better way to draw new legislative districts

There’s a better way to draw new legislative districts

If ever there were a year for members of the Ohio General Assembly to get behind a proposal that might take some of the politics out of redistricting, this is the year. That’s because the 2010 elections — elections that will decide which party will get control of redistricting under current law — are as up in the air as they could be.

Under the Ohio Constitution, the commission overseeing redistricting — the process used to draw new General Assembly and congressional districts following a national census — is made up of the governor, state auditor, secretary of state and single majority and minority members of the Ohio House and Senate. Today, Democrats would hold the majority on the commission, given that the governor and secretary of state are Democrats and the auditor a Republican. But all three offices will be decided in the 2010 elections and there is only one incumbent, Gov. Ted Strickland seeking re-election. Recent events would indicate that this could be a year of change, and polls give Republicans the edge. On the other hand, politics in the United States is in a period of volatility that makes it virtually impossible to predict how the political winds will be blowing in eight months.

Not the best

While the commission is the constitutional method unless and until amendment, it’s not by definition the most balanced way.

Inevitably one party or the other gets the edge, and it shows. Ohio is a largely purple state, with statewide races for president and senators and the Statehouse contests seesawing between the parties. And yet, the Republicans who controlled reapportionment 10 years ago drew up 18 congressional districts of which only one — our own 6th District is truly competitive based on voter registration, roughly 51 percent Republican, 49 percent Democratic. Of the others, 12 are somewhat to heavily weighted toward Republicans, and five are weighted toward Democrats, including the other Mahoning Valley district, the 17th.

There’s long been a word for drawing districts this way, gerrymandering, and in recent years, thanks to computers, partisans in every state where the politicians control the process have gotten even better at drawing districts to their own party’s advantage.

Now, thanks to the widespread use of computers, there’s a better way. Rep. Tom Letson of Warren, D-64th, has introduced an Ohio House resolution calling for a public competition to draw state legislative district lines and a nonpartisan arbiter to confirm the results. The Letson proposal builds on a contest run by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Ohio Redistricting Competition partners that showed last year that average people can use computers and readily available data to do what some legislatures refuse to do — draw districts that are tighter, that respect community interests and that, whenever mathematically possible, give either major party a chance to win an election.

Letson’s proposal calls for the apportionment board to oversee the competition, with the final lines subject to a panel that would include five members — all retired judges, two appointed by Republicans, two by Democrats and one acceptable to the other four members.

Congress is missing

The process would cover Ohio House and Senate districts but, unfortunately, not congressional districts. Arguably, neither party wants to see a state littered with truly competitive districts, where the results of an election could be affected almost overnight by a breaking development or campaign ad — or where third parties and splinter groups would gain undue influence.

But those are exactly the kind of questions that should be debated in public leading up to a vote on a constitutional amendment.

Another redistricting proposal has moved through the Ohio Senate, offered by Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican from Kettering who is running for secretary of state. That proposal doesn’t bank on citizen involvement, but it would apply to congressional redistricting.

It’s incumbent on the General Assembly to place a fair and responsible reform proposal on the ballot as a constitutional amendment. Public spirited citizens shouldn’t be forced to mount a petition campaign to get the necessary reapportionment reform before the voters.