[EL] Ohio redistricting reform bill passes legislature

[Dan Vicuna]

As many of you might know, the Ohio legislature passed a bill early this morning that would reform the way state legislative districts are drawn if voters approve the measure next year. Please see a description of the bill and a joint press release from Common Cause Ohio and the League of Women Voters of Ohio below.

Dan Vicuna
National Redistricting Coordinator
Common Cause
Cell: (571) 218-6135
Twitter: @DanVicuna<https://twitter.com/danvicuna>
www.commoncause.org/redistricting<http://www.commoncause.org/redistricting>


Legislative Alert:  Redistricting Update

At 4am Friday morning, the Ohio Senate passed an amended version of HJR12, the bipartisan redistricting bill that cleared the House late last week.

The bill is clearly a compromise. All sides had to give a little in order to reach agreement. The bill is far from perfect, but it is better than the system currently in place.

HJR 12 would do the following:

*         Bipartisan Redistricting Commission includes the governor, auditor and secretary of state, as well as Democratic and Republican legislative appointees from the Ohio General Assembly (one Democrat and one Republican both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate).

*         Keeps cities and counties together rather than splitting them up. This should help voters understand who their representative is because the boundaries will make more sense.

*         Prohibit crafting new state legislative maps that favor or disfavor one party over another.

*         Require districts to more accurately reflect the percent of votes a political party receives in that area. This should reduce the current problem of districts that are gerrymandered to artificially give one party more or less seats than the party's ability to garner votes.

*         Create a more transparent process with additional public hearings and input.
It is important to note that the HJR12 reform bill only changes the way we draw districts for the state legislature. It does not address Congressional gerrymandering.

It also includes an "impasse resolution" which the Republicans wanted.  This means that if the Ohio Redistricting Commission can't create bipartisan maps, the maps will only last four years and a new Commission will have to draw district lines.  The uncertainty of the statewide elections and the short term maps should dissuade the majority from passing maps without minority buy-in.  Even if they do, the new map-makers are constrained by clear geographical compactness requirements.

Next steps:
The resolution needs concurrence from the Ohio House of Representatives and then will need to be passed by a vote of the people in November 2015.



Press Release

December 12, 2014
For Immediate Release
Contacts:  Ann Henkener, 614-579-9026
Catherine Turcer, 614-579-5509

League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause Ohio Praise Progress
on Redistricting Reform, Giving Ohio Voters a Say

COLUMBUS - Today, the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO) and Common Cause Ohio (CCO) praised the efforts by Ohio legislators to work together in a bipartisan fashion to address the problem of gerrymandering. Early Friday morning, House and Senate leaders announced that a compromise had been reached on a redistricting reform measure, House Joint Resolution 12, which would change how Ohio's state legislative districts are drawn.

"In our current winner-take-all system, the voters lose, because the results are predetermined by the district map-makers," said Catherine Turcer of CCO. "The proposal passed today would require district maps to more closely reflect the will of voters rather than artificially favoring one party or the other."

"When our current gerrymandered district map took effect, we heard from many voters who were upset or confused by their communities being split into different districts," added Ann Henkener of LWVO. "This proposal requires map-makers to keep cities and counties together rather than splitting them up. This should help voters understand who their representative is because the boundaries will make more sense."

If the Ohio House signs off next week on the Senate amendments to HJR12, the proposal will go before voters to be approved on the 2015 ballot. The boards of both LWVO and CCO will consider formal approval of the proposal shortly. However, LWVO and CCO noted that the bill matches some of the criteria the organizations have advocated for years, such as representational fairness and keeping communities whole.
LWVO and CCO noted that HJR 12 only covers state legislative maps and does not solve the problems of Congressional gerrymandering. "While today's deal makes significant strides to address gerrymandering of state legislative districts, we are disappointed that it leaves out Congress," Henkener said.

"We remain committed to giving voters a fair say in Congressional races as well, and we hope the spirit of bipartisan compromise demonstrated by Ohio leaders this month will lead to additional reforms in the future," concluded Turcer.

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