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So the Ohio State Supreme Court struck down the radically changed legislative and congressional maps a little over a week ago and sent them back for a rewrite, as voted in the state constitution. by more than 70% of the votes in 2015 (legislative) and 2018 (congress).
First, the legislative districts that voters assigned to a redistricting commission that includes the Governor (R), Auditor (R), Secretary of State (R), and one member from each party in the House of State and the State Senate. Those 7 people met again Thursday but only swore in a new Democratic House member, Allison Russo, to replace resigned Emilia Sykes, who is running for Congress.
There were stacks of maps available that complied with voter-driven guidelines — again, over 70% — written by map savvy and good government types. They could have just picked and voted on it. But nooooo….
They waited until late tonight to approve — by a 5-2 vote of course — another heavily pro-GOP map that ignores the will of voters and has a good chance of being struck down again by the US Supreme Court. State. This one is a truly cynical nod behind voters’ backs. They claim this gives Democrats a slightly larger proportion of seats in the Legislative Assembly. However, they have distributed the voters so that these supposedly more Democratic additional districts are in effect virtual sweepstakes that will require tremendous effort and funding to win. Most Republican districts are safely Republican. And anyone who jumps in and says, “We just have to work harder” can fill it. I don’t know about you, but I’m short on money and time – and so are most activists here in Ohio. It’s yet another hurdle that makes it difficult for Democrats to mobilize and deploy the resources needed to win, especially in a lean year.
Of course, the news broke just as Cincinnati won a football game that apparently interests some people far more than our constitutional rights. It was probably also deliberate. All of this could have been done legally yesterday.
There is no doubt that these cards will be called into question again. We’ll see what happens next. More here at Ohio Capital Journal.
So disgusted. I’ve already called all the GOP members of the commission and told them off.
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