The League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO) released a report Predictable Results  shining a spotlight on these manipulated districts and their impact  on Ohio elections. The LWVO used the projected partisan index created in 2011 for the Ohio Redistricting Competition to assess the competitiveness of Ohio’s districts. Public records revealed that the 2011 mapmakers used the same partisan index.

​Tight races are generally within a five point margin. Of Ohio’s 16 congressional districts, only two have a partisan index within a ten-point margin. That means the winners of the other 14 districts were projected to win their election by more than ten percentage points. So much for competitive elections! 

The report demonstrates the power of gerrymandering or drawing districts to benefit the party in power.  Districts that lean Republicans were won by Republicans and those that lean Democratic were won by Democrats.  The partisan makeup of each district correctly predicted the winner of every single congressional race in 2012 and 2014.  

We like to think that we have competitive congressional elections, but the district itself can have more to do with who wins an election than the candidate and his/her ideas. This spells trouble for our democracy.

​How can the mapmakers justify Ohio’s 6th district that spans 289 miles from Youngstown to Ironton? Or Ohio’s 9th district better known as the “mistake by the lake” which skims along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. One way - bad politics. This is not right and certainly not good for voters. 

How gerrymandering is ruining democracy:

1. Brings Out Partisan Extremes  The most detrimental effect gerrymandering has on our political system is that it leads inevitably to polarization. Manipulating and stretching congressional districts pushes incumbents to the extremes of the political spectrum. Republicans have become more conservative and Democrats more liberal. Why does this happen? If an incumbent’s only fear is a primary challenge, his or her focus will be to maintain ideological purity, rather than pursue legislative pragmatism.  When elected officials pay more attention to the primary, rather than the general election, they become more extreme and this naturally leads to gridlock. Consequently,  the least productive Congresses in history have come in the past decade. According to The Pew Research Center the 113th Congress (2013-2014) was almost the least productive Congress in history, second only to the 112th Congress (2011-2012).  Ohioans need reformers, not ideologues - statesmen, not panderers.
2. Votes Don’t Matter  Ohio is a swing state but you wouldn’t know it by looking at     Ohio’s Congressional delegation. In 2012, Republican congressional candidates received just over half of the statewide vote, yet they won 75% of the seats. In 2014, Republican candidates received 57% of the statewide vote and yet again they hold 75% of congressional seats. This is not democracy; this is rigging elections. Gerrymandering is obvious in swing states like Ohio. Ohioans voted for a Democratic president in 2008 and 2012, a Republican Governor in 2010 and 2014 and since 1975 Ohio has been represented evenly by both parties in the US Senate.  And yet three-quarters of our Congressman are Republican? Skewed district lines consolidates the power of the party in control and leaves voters with less accountable elected officials, with less pressure to solve the problems facing all voters.
3. Tears Apart Communities: Summit County, home of Akron and four congressional districts,  is one of the most sliced and diced counties in the state. However, Summit County is not unique. Cuyahoga County is also divided up into four districts  (9th, 11th, 14th and 16th) . It is ludicrous that voters share a city councilman yet have two or three different congressmen! Carving up cities and neighborhoods dilutes the vote and erodes democracy. This does not serve the people of Ohio. These districts are self-serving, divide communities and make it nearly impossible to defeat incumbents. It is time for our state legislators to start acting like leaders and put congressional redistricting reform on the ballot. Together voters need to put pressure on the Statehouse.  We’re tired of politicians rigging the system and they need to know it.
4. Too much power to too few voters: The disparity in geographical size of Ohio’s congressional districts is alarming. The four seats held by Democrats are located in the most densely populated areas of the state – Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo and Akron. These districts have been “packed” with Democratic voters. This is done to splinter the vote, ensuring the minor party (in Ohio-- the Democratic Party) a “safe seat” while making it nearly impossible for another Democrat to win in adjoining districts in which Democratic voters join with a large number of Republicans.  This is called “cracking.”  Adjoining districts become Republican strongholds which has led to an over representation of rural populations  – even though nearly 78% of Ohioans live in urban areas!

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Both political parties engage in winner-take-all mapmaking. Gerrymandering leads to a disproportionate, feckless Congress that does nothing, but spend too much money doing nothing. 

There is a silver lining!  Issue 1 showed lawmakers that Ohioans are ready for change. Last November the voters of Ohio said business as usual in the Statehouse will not be tolerated anymore. It is time we send that same message to Congress. What’s good for the Statehouse is good for Congress! 

Call, write or tweet your state representative and senator. Demand an end to the frivolous party politics that we all loathe. 

Lawmakers will not do this themselves. The voters must have their voices heard and the only way to do that is to get involved. Everyone has a stake in the health of our elections and democracy.  You can make a difference. Join me in this fight, and together we can make sure  our government will once again be of the people, for the people, by the people.

By Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio

​All over the state, Ohioans are taking time to reflect on the life and legacy of George Voinovich.  A former Cleveland mayor, U.S. Senator and Governor Voinovich is remembered as a selfless public servant.

In 2015, George Voinovich described reform as "long overdue" and joined former Governors Dick Celeste, Ted Strickland and Bob Taft in support of Issue 1 and state legislative redistricting reform. 

In January of this year, Voinovich joined the call for fixing congressional map-making:

 "Last year, Ohio's voters went to the polls and declared that they were tired of state legislative districts being gerrymandered with only politics in mind.  As we wait for the legislature to take up the issue, Ohio's voters can once again take the lead by demanding a fairer process for redistricting Ohio's 16 congressional districts.
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I sincerely believe that one of the major problems confronting Congress is the fact that most districts are not balanced because of gerrymandering and therefore make it difficult for the member to compromise. The simplest way to get Washington moving again is to produce balanced congressional districts that force our elected officials to listen to both sides and compromise.”

All reform efforts are built on the leaders who came before us.  It's time for us to take the lead calling for congressional redistricting reform. Let Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger know that like former Governor and Senator Voinovich you support congressional redistricting reform.