Redistricting Handout

8/3/2019 Redistricting Handout

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Constitutional Initiative to Reform Redistricting in Ohio:

Voters First Proposal Summary

Executive Summary

A politically independent citizens commission would draw both state legislative andCongressional districts. Under present law, state legislative districts are drawn by a partisanboard, and Congressional districts are drawn by the state legislature. This has led to unfair plansbeing drawn behind closed doors, to the disadvantage of the people of Ohio. The proposedinitiative would take redistricting out of the hands of incumbent politicians, and would place it inthe hands of an impartial citizens commission. The Ohio Citizens Independent RedistrictingCommission -- composed of equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats and independents, andreflecting the diversity of Ohio -- would be required to draw fair districts, which do not favor ordisfavor a particular party, incumbent or candidate. District boundaries would be drawn to

promote fairness, competitiveness, compactness, and preservation of existing communities. Paidlobbyists, incumbents, and others with a personal or financial interest is elections would bebarred from serving on the citizens commission.

Highlights

Citizens, Not Politicians. Instead of the current procedures (in which politicians drawdistrict boundaries that unfairly favor their own party and/or protect incumbents), a 12-member citizens commission will create the districts. Any member of the public can submita plan for consideration.

Openness and Transparency. All meetings, records, communications and draft plans of thecommission must be open to the public. No more backroom deals.

Balance and Impartiality. The citizens commission will include equal numbers ofRepublicans, Democrats and independents, and the approval of at least seven of the twelvemembers of the commission will be required for the adoption of any plan. This will ensurethat the final plan fairly represents all Ohioans, not just those currently in power.

Community Representation. Districts will be created that are geographically compact,and which minimize the division of counties, townships, municipalities and wards between

different districts.

Accountability. Politically balanced districts will be created, rather than safe districtswhich make it difficult or impossible for voters to hold elected officials accountable.

Fairness. To the greatest extent possible, the share of districts leaning toward a party willreflect the political preferences of the voters of Ohio.


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Specific Procedures and Criteria

The first 9 members of the 12-person Commission will be chosen by lot from pools of independent,Democratic and Republican citizens who will have been screened by a panel of eight appellate courtjudges to assure that the Commission includes individuals with the skills, abilities and capacity forimpartiality that will allow the Commission to fulfill its responsibilities. These 9 members (3

Republicans, 3 Democrats and 3 independents) will then select the remaining three (1 Democrat, 1Republican and 1 independent) in such a manner as to ensure that the Commissions compositionreflects the diversity of Ohio. All meetings, records, communications and draft plans of theCommission shall be open to the public. The affirmative vote of at least 7 members of theCommission shall be required to adopt any plan.

Redistricting plans and maps may be proposed by any member of the public or by the Commissionitself. To be considered, a plan must comply with all applicable Ohio and federal constitutional andstatutory provisions, including, but not limited to, those dealing specifically with the protection ofminority voting rights. No plan shall be adopted with intent to favor or disfavor a political party,incumbent or potential candidate. The Commission shall adopt the redistricting plan that, in itsjudgment, most closely meets the following four criteria:

(1) Community Preservation: Minimizes the number of governmental units (counties,contiguous townships, municipalities and city wards) that are divided between differentdistricts;

(2) Politically Balanced Districts: Maximizes the number of politically balanced districts (i.e.,that do not favor one party by more than five percent, based upon political party indexescalculated on the basis of recent representative statewide elections);

(3) Representational fairness: Balances the number of districts leaning toward each party so thatthe number of districts leaning toward each party closely corresponds to the preferences of

the voters of Ohio, as determined using actual election results from recent representativestatewide elections;

(4) Compactness: Creates districts that are compact.

If the Supreme Court of Ohio or a federal court determines the plan to be invalid, the Ohio CitizensIndependent Redistricting Commission shall establish new boundaries. If it becomes necessary forany court to establish any district boundaries, it shall select from among the plans submitted to orconsidered by the Commission, and it shall adopt the plan that most closely meets the four criterialisted above.

Eligibility

Any Ohio elector is eligible to serve on the Commission, except for those who have failed to vote inat least two of the past three general elections or, in the past ten years, have served as a federal orstate elected official; have been a paid employee of the legislature, Congress or of a state or federalelected official; have served as director of a state department or agency; or have been a paid lobbyist.Also ineligible are those who in the past five years have run for state or federal elective office; havebeen an employee or paid consultant for a political campaign; have been an official or paid employeeof any political party; or contributed more than $5,000 to political campaigns or political partiesduring the last two years.


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How Bad is our Current Congressional Map?

According to the standard criteria used to assess electoral systems (representational fairness,

community preservation, competitiveness, etc.), our new Congressional district boundaries are

about as bad as can be achieved by using standard gerrymandering techniques.

Representational Unfairness:

Political scientists have developed a standard indicator to measure the fairness or unfairness ofrepresentation within different kinds of electoral systems around the world. ElectoralDisproportionality is the difference between the percentage of the seats won by a party and the

percentage of the votes cast for that partys candidates. The smaller the number, the more party

representation in the legislature reflects the preferences of the voters; larger numbers indicatethat the system has been designed to unfairly favor one party over the others. As can be seen

below, the new Congressional map for Ohio is twice as bad as the next-worst electoral systems

in the democratic world (and France and Canada only have that distinction because they combinesingle-member districts and multi-party systems).

FAIR

1 - The Netherlands2 - Denmark, Sweden, Austria

3 - Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Ireland, Italy

4 - Portugal, Iceland5 - The United States, Japan, Norway

7 - Russia

8 - Greece, Spain

9 - Australia10- Britain

12- Canada, France

18- Ohio 2002-2010

24- Ohio (under new 2012 map)UNFAIR

Community Preservation:

The new Congressional map fails to respect community boundaries. It has a total of 54 county

splits, and seven counties (Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage, Stark, Mercer, Lorain and Franklin) aresplit into three or more districts. By contrast, the winning plan from the Ohio Redistricting

Competition (submitted by a Republican state legislator from Illinois) included just 9 countysplits. And the new plan is even less compact than Ohios previous (2002-2010) map.


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Competitiveness:

The current map includes no competitive districts, defined as those within which the margin ofvictory is expected to be (on the basis of the average vote cast in recent statewide elections

*) five

percent or less. Democratic voters are packed into four districts, within which Democrats have

redundant super-majorities ranging between 62% and 80%. Republican-leaning districts wastefewer Republican votes, but the incumbents are protected in safe districts that are all-but-

immune from anything short of a tidal-wave of support for the opposition party. Overall, the

lack of competitiveness makes it difficult or impossible for voters to hold their elected officialsaccountable. Moreover, since the real election takes place in the primary (usually dominated by

party loyalists whose ideological stands tend to be less moderate than those who turn out in

general elections), this contributes to polarization and stalemate in Congress. The anticipated

partisan balance and margin of victory in each of Ohios 16 new districts can be seen in thefollowing table.

Anticipated Margin

District Anticipated Vote of Victory

11 (Fudge) D 80% 59.3%

3 (Cols.) D 64 28.5

9 (Kaptur & Kucinich) D 64 27.2

13 (Ryan) D 62 24.6

8 (Boehner) R64 28.6

4 (Jordan) R60 19.2

12 (Tiberi) R59 18.8

5 (Latta) R58 15.0

2 (Schmidt) R57 14.0

16 (Renacci & Sutton) R57 13.2

15 (Stivers) R56 12.9

7 (Gibbs) R56 12.5

1 (Chabot) R56 11.8

14 (LaTourette) R54 8.7

10 (Turner & Austria) R54 8.4

6 (Johnson) R54 7.7

* These estimated votes are based on a partisan index representing the average of the votes cast for the Democratic

and Republican candidates in the 2008 presidential election, and the 2010 races for Governor, Auditor and Secretary

of State.


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Lets put the Voters First!

Why should politicians draw their own district boundaries?Our politicians hid out in backrooms to draw districts that benefit themselves -- to ensure their

own re-elections and over-represent their party. In order to gain political advantage, they have

created bizarre districts that split apart cities and counties. They have rigged the system to createsafe districts that prevent voters from holding them accountable.

Instead of voters choosing their politicians, politicians are choosing their voters.

What is the solution?Nonpartisan, good government organizations in Ohio, including the League of Women Votersand Common Cause, have proposed a constitutional amendment that would reform Ohios

redistricting process. With enough support this issue can be on this Novembers ballot, so that

Ohios voters can decide.

What would the new process look like?

Politicians will no longer be able to draw their districts. Instead an Ohio CitizensIndependent Redistricting Commission, consisting of 12 qualified people, will determine

our districts. Politicians, lobbyists, and other political insiders will not be permitted on

the commission or to choose who is.

The Commission will be nonpartisan with four Republicans, four Democrats, and fourvoters not affiliated with either party. New districts will require the approval of 7 of the

12 commission members. Districts cannot be created to favor a political party,

incumbent, or potential candidate.

No more backroom deals! All commission meetings and records, including proposed

plans must be public. The commission must consider plans submitted by the public andmust provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on proposed plans.

Requires fair and objective redistricting practices. The commission will be requiredto adopt the plan which best meets the following criteria: Preserves communities by minimizing splits of counties, cities and townships Maximizes the number of politically balanced districts Fairly reflects the preferences of the voters of Ohio Creates compact districts.

What can I do?

To move forward, we need to identify sufficient resources to gather 386,000 signatures byJuly 3, 2012 and mobilize a statewide educational campaign for the Nov. 2012 election. You

can help by:

Encouraging your group or organization to endorse this plan

Helping to collect signatures to put this initiative on the November ballot

Supporting this effort by committing your time, money, and influence

Following our efforts at www.votersfirstohio.org and on our Facebook page.


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Voters FirstCampaign for Fair Redistricting

Name:____________________________________

Address:__________________________________

Employer/Business:_________________________

Phone:____________________________________

Email:____________________________________

Interested in volunteering? YES / NO

Checks should be made out to Voters First and mailed to

Don McTigue545 E. Town Street

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Or contribute online at www.votersfirstohio.org.

There is no limit on the size of contributions. Since this is an issue campaign,

corporations (both non-profit and for-profit) can contribute. Contributions are nottax deductible and will be disclosed to the public on the Ohio Secretary of States

website.

Documents

Redistricting Handout