Ohio has a long and complex past with partisanship in our statehouse. Well, not that complex. Out of the past 32 years, Republicans have held a trifecta of control over the state government for 25 of those years.
This doesn’t make sense on its own, as a majority of Ohio voters identify as Independents, as opposed to either party. We went for Clinton twice, Bush twice, Obama twice, then, apparently sick of being a swing state, Trump twice. But looking at our state legislature, you’d think that Ohio was a long-time Republican bastion.
In reality, Ohio suffers from Sick Freak disease, also known as Power Gluttony, also known as Gerrymandering. Many people consider the Buckeye State to be one of the most, if not the most, gerrymandered states in the Union, with our “snake on the lake” (Congressional District 9) district being used in many AP Gov FRQs, and our state legislature is even worse.
The state legislature maps were ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered not once, not twice, but yes, indeed, three whole times by the Ohio Supreme Court. But Ohio politicians are determined lil fellas, and because the court is not actually empowered to do anything beyond ruling the maps unconstitutional, the General Assembly thanked them for the input, and continued with the map anyways.
Issue 1 started as an attempt to right the wrongs of the State Legislature by empowering a citizen-led nonpartisan committee to head up the map drawing, with input from Independents, Democrats, and Republicans. But then, as with all things in Ohio, Secretary of State Frankie “RaLoser” LaRose got his slimy paws on it.
For the uninitiated, Issue 1 is a ballot initiative, which is a process by which citizens can directly change the constitution of Ohio, if they gather enough petition signatures, and then enough votes. Frank decided to pull a slow one, and changed the ballot language to specifically misconstrue the purpose of the initiative. One highlight of many is that the new Frank language states that this new amendment will “require gerrymandering.” The changes were passed by a majority Republican board—I know, surprising.
Funnily enough, the Republicans are not slated to lose their majority should Issue 1 pass, but lose their supermajority. This means that they would no longer be able to override a governor’s veto on their own, returning at least some semblance of checks and balances to Ohio government. As it stands now, the Republicans have about ⅔ of both the state Senate and House, whereas voters in Ohio generally break in the mid-50s Republican. Most importantly, Ohio voters are polling around 60% pro Issue 1, despite all of the mis- and disinformation being spewed by the right.
Long story short, and to the surprise of no one, Ohio Republican state representatives are crazy. The people of Ohio deserve and want honest representation, but in the normal showing of swamp land psychosis, politicians are trying to tell us what we want.
Do the right thing. Vote yes on 1.
Editor's Note: The Gavel is proud to publish all opinions from the CSU College of Law community. Disagree or have something to add? Submit your own article for publication to gavel@csuohio.edu or leave a comment below. And most of all, GO VOTE!
留言