THREAD - Fair maps in Ohio

Before people lose their minds, there are numerous protections built in to protect against a highly partisan, gerrymandered map like the one circulating today.

This is the map that we would've been stuck with if we HAD NOT undertaken reforms:

1/ https://twitter.com/DavidPepper/status/1330902562799841280

A few examples:

One new rule: "Of the 88 counties.., 65 [] shall be contained entirely w/in a district, 18 counties may be split not more than once, and 5 counties may be split not more than twice."

Franklin looks to be split 3 times, which has a big impact elsewhere

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Related, "If a congressional district includes only part of the territory of a particular county, the part of that congressional district that lies in that particular county shall be contiguous within the boundaries of the county."

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District 12 looks to violate this rule, which helps enable the Columbus / Franklin County gerrymandering that has repercussions across the state.

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Under the new rules, "No two congressional districts shall share portions of the territory of more than one county, except for a county whose population exceeds four hundred thousand."

This appears to be violated w districts 6 & 14 in the Mahoning, Stark & Portage area.

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Which is what allows for the elimination of a current competitive district in NE Ohio.

There may be others, but it's hard to see from this map so I'll leave them out.

But this map also assumes that Republicans have rammed through this map without any Democratic support...

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But if they were to do so, not only is the map only valid for 4 years, several other criteria kick in that would render this map unconstitutional

The first is: "The general assembly shall not pass a plan that unduly favors or disfavors a political party or its incumbents."

7/

This map clearly fails this on its face. The statewide Dem index for 2012-2020 will be in the mid to upper 40s. For 15 seats, the closest allocation is 7 Dem-leaning seats, followed in order by 6, 8, 5, 9, 4, 10, 3, 11, 2, 12, 1, 13, 0, 14, 15

2 Dem seats is nowhere near..

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..the closest possible match with minimal splitting. It's laughable.

Another criteria triggered is: "the general assembly shall not unduly split governmental units, giving preference to keeping whole, in the order named, counties, then townships and municipal corporations."

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Under US Supreme Court precedent about permissible variance, the fewest splits possible of Ohio counties is in the single digits.

This map splits at least 22 times, and is clearly done for partisan ends as opposed to legitimate reasons (ie. population balancing).

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Again, clearly unconstitutional under the new Ohio language.

Bottom line: this is the type of map that could have resulted if good government groups, activists and folks from across the aisle had NOT come together to change the Ohio Constitution.

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And it's (one reason) why we worked so hard to alter the make-up of the Ohio Supreme Court so that a fair court would scrutinize closely any map that looked this one.

And yes, Dems have 3 Justices out of 7. But to her credit, in 2011, Chief Justice O'Connor voted against..

11/

the current map when the rules described above, which provide so much additional protection, were NOT in place.

I'm not here to predict anyone's vote. But I feel confident that, with our successes in '18 and '20, there is a bipartisan majority on the OH Sup Crt that will..

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take seriously any effort to undermine the clear language and restrictions of the Ohio Constitution, and the overwhelming will of the people Ohio in enacting that language.

And yes, it's why we fought so hard on these reforms, and to add needed balance to the court.

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But bottom line: stay involved all through next year as these decisions are made.

Over the past 5 years, Ohioans have come through every time they've been asked to stand up against partisan gerrymandering.

We will need your voices again in 2021.

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