Gov. DeWine Approves Congressional Map Over Objections Of Voting Rights groups, Democrats!

November 23, 2021 ruthmaxey1 352 Views african american lifestyles, african american news, african american political news, cause ohio, census, ceusus population dictates number of legislative seats, gerrymandering, governor dewine, league of women voters, ohio politics, ohio redistricting, ohio redistricting commission 2021, Philip Randolph Institute, redistricting dictates number of legislative seats, redistricting map, redistricting ohio legislative seats, state of ohio, Voter rights groups are urging DeWine to veto new Ohio Congressional map!

FEATURED PHOTO: JEN MILLER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OHIO

Yahoo.com, By Laura A. Bischoff COLUMBUS DISPATCH, Posted November 23rd 2021

Despite pleas from Democrats and voting rights groups for a veto, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Saturday signed into law a congressional redistricting map that will likely face court challenges.

“When compared to the other proposals offered from House and Senate caucuses, both Republican and Democrat, the map in Senate Bill 258 makes the most progress to produce a fair, compact, and competitive map,” DeWine said in a statement Saturday morning.

Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio said it was a “sad day for Ohio.”

“This new Congressional map is extremely partisan gerrymandered, violating the Ohio Constitution and prioritizing short-sided partisan considerations ahead of the rights of all Ohio voters,” Miller said. “Ohio voters deserve better, and we will not stop our efforts until gerrymandering finally comes to an end in Ohio.”

DeWine’s signature on the map bill marks the culmination of years of fighting over how Ohio should draw its political maps. Voters embraced reforms in 2015 and 2018 that promised a more bipartisan process for how Ohio would craft legislative and congressional district lines.

Neither the legislative map or congressional map won a single vote from any Democrats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission or in the General Assembly. That means the maps will be in place for four years instead of 10.

Oral arguments for lawsuits challenging the legislative maps are scheduled before the Ohio Supreme Court for Dec. 8. And advocates for fair maps said this week they’d weigh their options for challenging the congressional maps as well.

Republicans who crafted the map said it offers seven competitive districts, divides only 12 counties and keeps seven of Ohio’s eight biggest cities whole. The GOP lawmakers defined “competitive” as within an 8 percentage point swing in the partisan index.

Competitiveness isn’t a requirement under the voter-approved changes to the Ohio Constitution.

Democrats opposed the congressional map bill, saying they were shut out of the process and the map will likely result in Republicans holding 13 of 15 seats. They complained that Hamilton County will be divided across three congressional districts and the city of Cincinnati will be lumped into a district with heavily Republican Warren County.

They criticized DeWine for signing a bill they said fails to abide by the will of voters.

In 2018 during his campaign for governor, DeWine told the Cincinnati Enquirer through a spokesman: “The rules are pretty clear – the voters said that the redistricting process should be done in a bipartisan way and when I am governor there will be an expectation that the new district maps honor the voters’ wishes.”

Except for 2006 and 2008, Ohio Republicans have won every statewide executive office since 1994 And the GOP has won a majority of state legislative seats, except for a brief window in 2008.

Miller, of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, noted that although Republicans have won those offices, they didn’t win 100% of the votes.

Democrats have argued that the political maps should reflect proportional voting patterns.

Voting preferences have averaged 54% for Republican candidates and 46% for Democratic candidates over the past decade. So a proportional map would favor Republicans 8-7.

The Ohio Constitution has no requirement that the congressional map matches the statewide preferences of voters, but it’s one measure used to measure “fair maps.”

Laura A. Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.