Ohio voters will decide how political districts are created

Ohio Republicans have only themselves to blame for the constitutional amendment pertaining to the redrawing of congressional and legislative districts that voters will consider in the Nov. 6 general election.

Had the GOP majority in the Ohio General Assembly not been so eager to trample over the minority Democrats, the petition drive to place the redistricting issue on the ballot would not have been launched.

A total of 406,514 signatures of registered voters were certified Monday by Secretary of State Jon Husted, which means the group leading charge, Voters First, has cleared a major hurdle. But having the amendment on the ballot does not guarantee approval. It’s up to Voters First and the other grassroots organizations that have objected to the congressional and legislative district maps drawn by the Republicans to make the case for changing the system.

Voters will have to be sold on the notion that the GOP was so extreme in its exercise of power that 12 of the 16 congressional districts now favor the party in power in Ohio.

The lopsided redistricting led to 25 grass-roots organizations refusing to endorse the Republican plan. The organizations urged the Republican controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. John Kasich to adopt a non-partisan, fair system for drawing district boundaries.

The architects of the constitutional amendment say the goal is to protect every Ohio voter’s right to fair, competitive districts.

“We want to replace the current system, where the politicians draw their own lines. They … rigged the system,” Ann Henkener, redistrict specialist for the Ohio League of Women Voters, said recently.

The districts created by the Republicans could be in place for 10 years, which is why the advocates of change have moved so quickly. The constitutional amendment would take effect immediately if voters say yes. Thus, the new system would be used in 2013 so the redrawn congressional and legislative districts would apply to the election in 2014.

Republicans are hitting back, but the fact remains they brought this upon themselves. By throwing political caution to the wind, they have awoken a sleeping giant — the voters of Ohio who believe in fairness and in the system of checks and balances. Ohioans aren’t eager to have one party so entrenched that it could conceivably be in control for the next decade.

Today, all statewide offices and the Ohio Senate and House are in Republican hands.

Commission

Under the new system for creating districts, a 12-member commission would replace the current procedures for creating legislative and congressional districts. The panel would include four Republicans, four Democrats and four nonpartisan voters. Eight of the 12 would have to sign off on any districts.

Lobbyists, politicians and their families and major donors to political campaigns would be ineligible to serve.

Republicans have charged that Voters First, which says is it a nonpartisan organization, is actually working on behalf of the Ohio Democratic Party and point to the money that labor unions and other groups provided for the petition drive.

That is an issue that should be addressed, just as the Republicans should be prepared to discuss their heavy-handed approach to redistricting that has given them a firm grip on the reins of power.

In the end, however, it will be the voters of Ohio who decide what’s in the best political interest of the state.