Fair Districts = Fair Elections
  • Home
  • Take the End Gerrymandering Pledge
  • About
  • What is Gerrymandering?
  • Media
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Voter Registration
  • Request a Speaker
  • Resources
  • History of Reform
  • Endorsements
  • Privacy Policy

Press Release:  Redistricting Campaign on Pace to Set Petitioning Record, Riding Wave of Grassroots Enthusiasm for Congressional Reform

7/31/2017

0 Comments

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 31, 2017
CONTACT:
Carrie Davis, LWV Ohio, 614-469-1505
Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio, 614-579-5509
David Miller, The Ohio Environmental Council, 419-944-1986

COLUMBUS, OH - The Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio ballot issue campaign marked Monday's financial filing deadline by celebrating the unprecedented success of its grassroots volunteer petitioning effort.

"Unlike so many initiatives that are driven by out-of-state wealthy special interests, our campaign is led by the people of Ohio," said Jeff Cabot, Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio's treasurer. "Take a look at our campaign finance reports and you will see that our support comes from good-government groups who are based in Ohio and care about our communities, along with a long list of small-dollar donations from everyday Ohioans, our friends and neighbors."

"We've been fortunate to have an amazing outpouring of volunteer and partner support that has kept our expenses low," said Heather Taylor-Miesle, Executive Director of The Ohio Environmental Council. "We've had a constant flow of volunteers in and out of our office picking up and dropping off petitions. It's clear that Ohioans are eager and ready to put in the work to ensure we get fair congressional districts across the state."

Earlier this month, Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio and the Fair Districts = Fair Elections Coalition announced that in just the first month of petitioning, redistricting reformers from all over Ohio collected more than 100,000 signatures. More than 2,400 volunteers fanned out across the state and collected signatures from voters in all 88 counties, and eight counties already surpassed the 5% needed to file from half the counties in the state.

"This is incredible, and thanks to a wave of grassroots volunteer enthusiasm, we are on pace for a record-breaking campaign," said Carrie Davis of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. "Historically, Ohio initiatives have gathered from 5 to 20 percent of their signatures using volunteers, having to rely on paid circulators to collect the rest. We are over a third of the way to the number of signatures needed, due exclusively to volunteers. As far as we know, no initiative campaign in Ohio has done this before, let alone in just one month."

To place the Bipartisan Congressional Redistricting Reform Amendment on the ballot, the coalition of redistricting reformers will need to collect at least ten percent (10%) of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election (305,591 valid signatures).

"In 2015, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported redistricting reform for our state legislature.  Issue 1 of 2015 passed by more than 71 percent of the vote and won in all 88 counties," said Common Cause's Catherine Turcer. "It's clear Ohio voters are just as hungry to support redistricting reform for our congressional districts."

Pictures of volunteers 


                                                                           ###
0 Comments

Defense of Gerrymandering and Gerrymanderers

7/26/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
Fair Districts for Fair Elections? Not in My Backyard!
         
By a Concerned Citizen from Cleveland


It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon along the lake in Congressional District 4, so I have decided to take a walk through my neighborhood to make the most of the day. 
​
​​I make it to the end of the block, and look across the road, only to have my entire day ruined. Just across one of the major roads within my small town is District 9.

I could vomit. Savages if I have ever seen them. How is it possible that our little suburbia harbors such monsters without at least caging them off first?​
Picture
​I see right through them. The snakes along the lake from District 9 masquerade as though they are no different than the others in our town, they send their kids to school with us, and they even have the audacity to shop in the same retail stores.

​Make no mistake, I am all for equality and fair representation, but our representation should be more equal and fair than theirs. 

Picture
It seems that there has been a push for “fair districts” for “fair elections”, and it makes me quiver. Me, share a district with those guys? I do not think so. Not in my backyard.

Rather than sit here and continue to bash those lepers down the lane to show why we don’t need a fair district where I live, allow me to give some insight as to why nobody needs districting reform.

Ohio Congressional Districts are Art! – By an Artist from Akron

When is the last time you peeked at our Congressional districts? I have the district map right in front of me, and it is simply beautiful. What some uncultured swine might now realize, is that this is some incredible abstract art that Picasso himself probably drew before his premature death. Among the many things you might find in this map, you will see a duck, a Rorschach blot, a caterpillar wearing a hat, and some strong emotions you probably weren’t aware you had. 

Art should be preserved, and destroying this will cause Mr. Picasso to roll over in his grave. Have some respect for those passed! 
Picture
Representatives Can Stay Far Away –
By a Distance Voter from Defiance


My Congressman lives about 3 hours, or 150 miles away
from my hometown. Do you know what makes this so great?

He is far, far away. Politicians are ALWAYS grimy, and
corrupt individuals, and you need to do everything you can
to avoid them. So, what if my representative has little
to no firsthand knowledge and exposure to life in the north
where I come from?

It’s not like Congress does much and at least when your representative screws up you can wipe your hands clean. They’re basically from Neverland so how can I blame them for their indiscretions.

This is NOT the American Way –  By Sons of the Gerrymanderer

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on fair districts promoting fair elections. Our founding fathers knew better than to promote fair elections! Back when America was great, do you know who could vote? Men, specifically men who owned property.

All this talk of “the founding fathers believed in equality” is fake news. We didn’t have problems before women were voting, or minorities, or poor people (GAG!). It was simpler times when this country was founded, and the further we stray from the way things should be, the further we stray from God’s light.

Somebody’s Feelings Might Get Hurt – By a Nice Neighbor from Napoleon

I care about people, I really do. One major concern I have is that somebody might have their feelings hurt if we make the districts fair.

Many of Ohio’s districts are considered “safe districts” which effectively means that you know who is going to win beforehand based on the way the districts are divided down party lines. Knowing who is going to win beforehand saves our elected officials the pain and embarrassment they may face if there is a close election and they lose.

With the typical 70-30 splits we see now, it is an easier pill to swallow when you lose. It just wasn’t your election to take. However, if these elections get too close and too competitive, candidates may start feeling like they could have done more, or spent more time reaching out to voters, and that is what cost them the election.

Furthermore, the winner is going to be stressed from having to work to get the vote! The incumbents don’t work when they are down in Washington, who are we to tell them they must work when they get home to relax during their four days off a week (and frequent vacations)? This is nonsense. It is an indirect form of bullying if you ask me.

Picture

A final note from the editor and concerned citizen: 

Any rational individual who has read this will understand and agree that attempting to reform congressional districting is just wrong. Rather than fighting Gerrymandering, we must unite and fight against the “Gerryslandering”, and against the remarkable work that has been done by our current rulers-- I mean-- elected officials. 

2 Comments

How many signatures?

7/20/2017

5 Comments

 

Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio announces over 100,000 signatures collected in the first month

Plus eight counties have already hit the 5% threshold 

Today, Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio and the Fair Districts = Fair Elections Coalition announced that in the past month redistricting reformers from all over Ohio collected more than 100,000 signatures. 

“The Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio ballot committee now has more than 100,000 signatures in hand,” said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.  “This is a testament to the hard work of volunteers who are committed to fair elections and improving representational democracy. Voters know they deserve fair districts and fair elections, and many of our volunteers report that voters are thanking them for collecting signatures to stop gerrymandering.”

During this first phase of the campaign, volunteers collected signatures from voters in all 88 counties.

“This shows incredible momentum,” said Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio. “We want to thank all the activists for their hard work. More than 2,000 volunteers from all over Ohio collected signatures. Working together, we can put this on the ballot next year and give Ohio voters the opportunity to end gerrymandering.”

Ohioans have been leading the way on the fight to end gerrymandering. In 2015, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported state legislative redistricting reform.  Issue 1 of 2015 passed by more than 71% of the vote and won in all 88 counties. Unfortunately, the state legislature has not acted on pleas to finish the job by putting congressional redistricting reform before the voters. 

To place the Bipartisan Congressional Redistricting Reform Amendment on the ballot, the coalition of redistricting reformers will need to collect at least ten percent (10%) of the total vote cast for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election (305,591 valid signatures).

Ohio also has a distribution requirement for the signatures. Petitioners must submit signatures equal to five percent of the county’s total number of gubernatorial votes cast in the last election from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.  For example, if in 2014, 6,100 votes were cast for gubernatorial candidates, the campaign would be required to collect 305 signatures.

“Thanks to the amazing work of our Fair Districts volunteers, even though we’re only one month into collecting petition signatures, we already have several counties that have hit the five percent threshold,”  added Turcer. “We’re hoping a little friendly competition will add several more counties to the ‘5% Club’ next month.”

The counties that reached the five percent threshold: Adams, Athens, Delaware, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Licking and Mercer. 

To reach 10% statewide (305,591 valid signatures), it will be necessary to collect more signatures than just those required to meet the county threshold for ballot placement.

“The Fair Districts volunteer effort truly is remarkable,” concluded Davis. “Most citizen initiatives only have five to twenty percent of their signatures from volunteers and have to use paid canvassers to collect the rest. The fact that we have over 100,000 signatures from 88 counties in only one month, collected exclusively by volunteers, is a strong demonstration of how hungry Ohioans are for putting an end to gerrymandering in our state.”

Anyone interested in reading more about the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio campaign or signing up to help is encouraged to visit www.fairdistrictsohio.org.

Didn't see your favorite photograph from this effort?  Please email it to ohiofairdistricts@gmail.com.
5 Comments

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Wisconsin Gerrymandering Case

7/12/2017

3 Comments

 
By Jessica C. Dickinson, J.D.
      Common Cause Ohio

 
Gerrymandering hasn’t been declared unconstitutional because it’s hard to fix a problem if you can’t define it, just ask the United States Supreme Court. 
Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court is ready to revisit this problem. The court agreed to review a Wisconsin appeals case, Gill v. Whitford. A lower court ruled that the state’s Republican-drawn map is unconstitutional  due to partisan gerrymandering.

The Supreme Court has never declared drawing legislative district lines to benefit one political party or gerrymandering  unconstitutional. 

​The Court missed an opportunity to fix that in 2004 with Vieth v. Jubelirer. The more conservative justices held that “no standard was available to resolve gerrymandering questions.”    
Justice Kennedy disagreed and acknowledged that gerrymanders can, he explained, “burden representational rights” by “penalizing citizens” because of their “association with a political party” or their “expression of political views.” The liberal justices identified gerrymandering as problematic but each used a different definition or way to quantify gerrymandering.

What is gerrymandering?
 
Every 10 years, after the census, congressional and state legislative lines are redrawn to address changes in the population. But all too often, redistricting is used to manipulate boundaries and stack the deck in favor of a particular political party or incumbent candidate.
 
Gerrymandering leads to uncompetitive general elections. The partisan make-up of Ohio’s Congressional districts perfectly predicted the political party of the winner in every single race in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

Gerrymandering is such an unfair advantage that it is like playing cards with someone who cheats. The “game” is rigged but in this case, the marginalized party and the voters can’t just walk away. So, what do we do? We can do like Wisconsin citizens and activists in Ohio and take a stand for fairer rules. 

Picture
Getting to the Supreme Court

Bill Whitford, a former law professor and self-described “political junkie,” met regularly with a group of friends at the Watts Tea room. This group of lawyers, political scientists, and professors had been involved in previous efforts to stop gerrymandering in Wisconsin. As they began to discuss taking another crack at a challenge, they invited him to join their group as a researcher. 

The attorneys from the group had filed a lawsuit and through the discovery process, they were able to gain access to previously unseen documents such as:
  • The secrecy agreement entitled “Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Related to Reapportionment.” signed by 17 Republican State Senators before being allowed to discuss the map-drawing plan.
  • Proof that the attorneys hired by Republicans to assist them were paid $431,000 in State taxpayer funds for their work on the plan.

Armed with this evidence and research evaluating and defining gerrymandering by University of Chicago Law School professor, Nicholas Stephanopoulos and Public Policy Institute of California research fellow, Eric McGhee, the group felt confident that they could prove that the redistricting map drawing process was conceived with “partisan intent.”

Procedurally Speaking

First Amendment
Bill Whitford and his friends (the plaintiffs) argued that the 2011 redistricting plan, the Wisconsin state legislative map, created an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander unduly favoring Republicans.

Specifically, Whitford argues that the GOP-controlled legislature enacted a redistricting plan that systematically dilutes the voting strength of Democratic voters statewide in violation of the First Amendment’s right to free association. A Wisconsin district court agreed and determined that the First Amendment’s right to free association was violated because it minimized Democrats’ voting power.

Fourteenth Amendment
The Whitford team also argued that the 2011 map violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

Under the Equal Protection Clause, the laws of a state must treat an individual in the same manner as other people in similar conditions and circumstances. The Wisconsin Court determined that the map violated this clause because a state should not redraw district lines in a way that treats voters from one party differently than voters from another party.

The District Court’s decision was then appealed. A three-judge federal panel upheld the decision and ordered the Wisconsin legislature to redraw the state assembly map by November 1, 2017. This ruling has been put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision.

Using Math to Define Gerrymandering
​

Gerrymandering is hard to define objectively and the Supreme Court hasn’t been able to establish a standard definition but math can help. The Wisconsin District Court applied what’s called the “Efficiency Gap.” 
Picture
This concept, developed by Nicholas Stephanopoulos and Eric McGhee, focuses on how much district lines “pack” and “crack” the marginalized party’s voters for partisan advantage.

Wasted votes sounds harsher than it is. In a nutshell, the winner of an election only needs half of the votes plus one more in a two-way race. A wasted vote is one that does not help to elect a candidate or were unnecessary to get elected.

In bringing the case to the Supreme Court, Bill Whitford and many others hope that it can decide what standard to evaluate the claim of partisan gerrymandering.

The Efficiency Gap model is one way to analyze the gerrymandering problem. Ohio’s redistricting model also uses some math to pushback on gerrymandering. In 2015, voters overwhelmingly supported state legislative redistricting reform which includes the goal of representational fairness.

To meet the goal of representational fairness, the statewide percentage of districts that lean towards each other of the two major parties shall closely correspond to the partisan preferences of the voters of Ohio. This statewide preference is measured by determining the partisan preferences in statewide and federal general elections over the previous ten years.

​Representational fairness is also used in the Fair Districts=Fair Elections’ congressional redistricting reform proposal.

What’s in it for Ohio
​

"The fact is we don't have competitive districts in the state of Ohio,'' said Daniel P. Tokaji, a professor of election law at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. 

The state legislature could address congressional redistricting reform by putting it on the ballot but they aren’t. Ohio activists are now collecting signatures and driving redistricting reform at the congressional level. 
Picture
How the Court rules on Wisconsin’s challenge has the potential to help states such as Ohio make the mapmaking process as fair and unbiased as possible.
​
Does this mean Ohioans who want fairer rules and fairer elections should stop their reform efforts just because this case might fall their way? No. 

​When it comes to taking on the behemoth that is government, you can never plug too many holes and court cases can take years to resolve so you need have good rules for redistricting in place.
 
Next Step

It has been over a decade since the Supreme Court has agreed to review a partisan redistricting case and the seriousness of this issue is indicative of them doing so. The Court’s ruling, which is likely to come next year, has the potential to impact redistricting efforts for decades to come.
​
In the meantime, Professor Whitford will continue hoping that the courts “begin to get into the area of setting limits” so that gerrymandering can be a thing of the past.
3 Comments

Driven by Volunteer Enthusiasm, Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio Continues to Collect Signatures for the November 2018 Ballot

7/5/2017

3 Comments

 
Wednesday, July 5, 2017

CONTACTS:
Carrie Davis, League of Women Voters Ohio
(614) 469-1505, CDavis@lwvohio.org
David Miller, Ohio Environmental Council
(419) 944-1986, DMiller@theoec.org
Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio
(614) 579-5509

COLUMBUS, OH – Today, the Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio ballot issue campaign announced that the first month of the petition effort is off to a great start.

“Not only did we celebrate America’s birthday on this Fourth of July weekend,” said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, “for us it also marked the one-month point for this campaign to protect the democratic value of giving Ohio voters a voice and a choice by halting gerrymandering of our Congressional districts.”

“We have been thrilled by the level of enthusiasm we’ve seen in volunteers picking up petitions in our office,” added Aryeh Alex, Political Director of the Ohio Environmental Council. “We have thousands of volunteers spread across the state, carrying tens of thousands of petitions.”

The Fair Congressional Districts for Ohio proposal was certified by the Ohio Attorney General on May 22, 2017, and by the Ballot Board on May 30, paving the way for signature collection to begin. The Fair Districts campaign began circulating petitions on June 2, 2017.
​

“We are well on our way to collecting the needed signatures to place Fair Districts on next year’s ballot,” said Catherine Turcer, Policy Director for Common Cause Ohio. “And for only being one month into the petition signature gathering, we are way ahead of schedule. That’s a real testament to all the hard work of Fair Districts volunteers!”

“We have over 250 volunteers at work who’ve gathered thousands of petition signatures at locations around Greater Cleveland,” said Catherine LaCroix, the Fair Districts coordinator for the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. “We can't make our representatives listen to us until they have to.  We can't fix political gridlock until we fix Congress.”

The campaign needs to collect 305,591 valid signatures from Ohioans, including a minimum number in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Ohio law permits citizen initiative campaigns to continue collecting signatures and file whenever they wish. However, state law establishes a cut-off of early July for filings to appear on the fall ballot, 125 days before the November election, so that election officials have adequate time to prepare ballots.

“We offer a sincere thank you to all the volunteers who have canvassed the state to collect signatures!” said Turcer. “With this level of enthusiasm to ‘slay the gerrymander’, Ohioans can count on seeing this essential Fair Districts reform on the November 2018 ballot.”​
Picture

The Gerrymander at the Doo Dah Parade
in Columbus, ​July 4, 2017

3 Comments

    Disclaimer: 
    All blog posts represent the views of the guest blogger, and are not necessarily representative of the larger coalition of organizations that support Congressional redistricting reform.

    This site is paid for by the League of Women Voters of Ohio,  100 E. Broad St., Suite # 1310, Columbus, OH 43215. To contact the League, please call 614-469-1505.
    ​

    Archives

    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Take the End Gerrymandering Pledge
  • About
  • What is Gerrymandering?
  • Media
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Voter Registration
  • Request a Speaker
  • Resources
  • History of Reform
  • Endorsements
  • Privacy Policy