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Draw improved legislative districts, and the likelihood is, the state will get improved representation
Published on Sunday, Jun 21, 2009
The League of Women Voters of Ohio, Common Cause Ohio, Ohio Citizen Action and others approached Jennifer Brunner, the secretary of state, to sponsor the event, in the pursuit of improved representation. The results, announced Thursday, should push lawmakers and the governor toward changing the ways both legislative and congressional districts are redrawn every decade. Much more is at stake than reflecting new population numbers.
Fortunately, state Sen. Jon Husted, a Kettering Republican who wants to run to replace Brunner next year, already is moving in the right direction. His resolution to amend the Ohio Constitution would create a seven-member bipartisan commission to take over the job of both legislative and congressional districts. The hope is to place an issue before voters this fall, before the 2010 Census is taken and state offices are up for grabs.
As it is, legislative lines are controlled by a state apportionment board made up of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and a legislative member from each party. The process for devising new congressional boundaries is even more open, leaving the job to the legislature and the governor.
There is virtually nothing to stop partisan impulses to bend what few rules there are to gain partisan advantage. Even when compromises are reached, they tend to create safe districts for incumbents.
Although the Husted plan does address compactness and competitiveness in general language, it would benefit from revisions to incorporate the more rigorous and broader scoring system worked out by the League of Women Voters and others. Putting the details in the state constitution makes sense: It would provide a barrier to future manipulation.
Besides minimizing splits to existing political subdivisions and requiring compactness, the contest included measures of political competitiveness and overall fairness. The latter considers whether the percentage of districts a party holds mirrors its percentage of the statewide vote.
As happened in the contest for congressional districts, a number of plans could tie, leaving the commission with plenty of discretion to look closely at the importance of a particular category. In the end, the goal is to preserve communities of interest, while at the same time driving the political debate toward the center, competitive districts more likely to produce representatives more inclined to take the broad view of what's best for the state.
Get the full article here.
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