Why the Ohio gop wants gerrymandering, from twitter

[irisblue]

Source-@DC_DeWitt
Editor-in-Chief and Opinion Columnist
@OhioCapJournal

Ohio Republican politicians are fond of this argument that gerrymandering means drawing any safe seat, and not that the totality of districts drawn statewide are wildly out of whack with the statewide preferences of voters. It’s a silly and dishonest argument. I’ll explain why 1/

First, yes, safe districts should be minimized and competitive districts should be maximized. But to pretend it is possible to draw only competitive districts and no safe districts is pure dishonesty. That’s not possible. So to call any safe district “gerrymandering” is dumb. 2/


On their part, it’s more than dumb, it’s brazenly hypocritical. Under the gerrymandered maps Ohio voters are currently suffering, Ohio Republicans drew Every Single GOP district Safe, and All the Competitive Races were Dem seats. So by their own definition, they gerrymandered. 3/

They gerrymandered on two levels: Making a 56-43 state into a 67-32 Ohio House, and making every competitive race a Democratic protect, while every single Republican enjoyed safe reelection. They gerrymandered according to both proportionality and their own weird definition. 4/

As I’ve said many, many times: Given that safe seats have to be drawn, the number of safe seats drawn ought to be proportional to statewide voter preferences, and the number of competitive seats should be evenly maximized between the two parties. That ends gerrymandering. 5/5

[irisblue]

1. If you are on twitter, this guy-Dave DeWitt & the OhioCapJournal are good follows

[Metaphorical]

2. Yet Another Argument

For independent state districting commissions.

[irisblue]

3. Ohio's Legacy of Gerrymandering Could End This November

source-https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/ohios-legacy-gerrymandering-could-end-november


snip-"Ohioans will vote on a constitutional amendment that would establish a citizen-led independent redistricting process to replace the politically driven map-making system.


THIS IS ISSUE 1 on the OHIO BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER


snip-"In March 2022, the Ohio Redistricting Commission was running six months behind schedule to produce state legislative maps. The Ohio Supreme Court previously ruled that three sets of maps drawn by the politician-run commission were unconstitutional. The court’s latest order required the politicians in charge of redistricting to hire independent mapmakers to achieve what they could not: draft maps that reflect Ohio voters’ preferences.

But instead of following through with the independent experts’ proposals, a few legislators on the commission had other plans. Late in the evening on the day of the court’s deadline, they introduced a separate set of legislative maps, drawn by one party’s staffers in a back room outside of public view, that looked eerily similar to previously rejected maps. The commission’s majority approved the eleventh-hour plan — abandoning the professionals, disregarding the will of the citizens, and sending the court maps that would once again be ruled unconstitutional."


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