Will HB 188 End Cherrypicked Congressional Districts?

From an online letter signed by Speaker William G. Batchelder OCMC Co-Chair
and Sen. Charleta B. Tavares, Assistant Minority Leader OCMC Co0Chair
...."In a state as diverse and ever-changing as Ohio, how do we ensure that the Ohio Constitution continues to accurately reflect the people of our great state?
The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission (OCMC) was created with the goal of making needed improvements to our state constitution.".....

In other words how do we end cherrypicking our voters?

Website: Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library
Sources for researching Ohio Constitution, including new and current versions of the Ohio Constitution....  HB 188 established the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission..


\June 4, 2014 Akron-Beacon Journal
by Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer
article published comments of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted speaking at an Akron Press Club luncheon:
..."Redistricting reform needs to happen in Ohio and — if the legislature fails to act — citizens should take the matter into their own hands, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted told an Akron audience Wednesday.

Husted said he’d be willing to help with a citizen effort to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to change how U.S. congressional and state legislative districts are drawn.

“We shouldn’t draw the lines the way we do,” Husted, a Republican seeking his second term this year, told a crowd of about 70 at an Akron Press Club luncheon. “Candidates have a free ride after primaries. Parties control who represents us in Congress. Let’s fix this.”....."

some things never change

gerrymander is

 a legal way 

 for a crowd  

 to do something 

 another crowd 

will find abhorrent

gerrymanders promise

power 

achieved 

through

permanence

and unavoidable 

completely predictable

results

living in a gerrymander

that never goes

my way

pretty much

sucks

When being clever is not so smart

"Meanwhile, Republicans dominated in redistricting fights in states across the nation, including Ohio, and even though Democrats running for U.S. House seats nationally received 1.4 million more votes in 2012, Republicans won 234 seats in 2012 compared with the 201 Democratic seats."
Divided government in Washington looks set in stone

by Jessica Wehrman
Aug. 13, 2013
Columbus Dispatch

(The Dispatch is doing a great job writing about gerrymander. I used the Dispatch.com home page search bar, typed in the word gerrymander and 260 results returned )

Save Yourself GOP (so I don't have to)

So, we are all watching the wasting of the GOP.

I wonder why doesn't someone organize an intervention?

Hey Ted and David, I know you are busy helping gays win marriage equality but the gerrymandering of American Congressional Districts is a much bigger issue.

Two July 2013 items Pro and Con - gerrymandering:

On Politico by Alex Isenstadt
GOP could pay price for gerrymandering

On Real Clear Politics by Sean Trende
Gerrymandering and the Republican House

More Rigged Elections?

from Mother Jones
by Nick Baumann
Fri. Dec. 7th 2012

GOP Resurrects Plan to Rig Electoral College
..."now that Romney has been defeated, prominent GOPers are once again mulling rule changes that could make it harder for Democrats to win the White House—and easier for Republicans to claim Electoral College votes in states where they lose the popular vote.........

Not just Ohio

To put it another way, President Barack Obama won 53 percent of the votes in Pennsylvania but Democrats could win only 28 percent of the congressional seats. 

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/map-manipulation-gerrymandering-had-the-last-word-in-election-663917/#ixzz2E5btkvLU

Joe Hallett: Gerrymandering pushes General Assembly to the extremes

".....The day started when the Ohio Supreme Court continued its decennial complicity in a gerrymandering scheme that makes a mockery of representative government.....

Fix redistricting? Sure, but how?

by Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch Nov. 19, 2012
...."With the defeat of state Issue 2, an effort to turn over Ohio’s redistricting process to a citizens commission, attention now turns to what elected leaders are going to do to fix a system that many in both parties have agreed is broken.....
Sidebar:
Brennan Center for Justice makes variety of suggestions.

Keep hope alive in Ohio

Process of drawing legislative and congressional maps may change

By  Jim Siegel The Columbus Dispatch Monday November 12, 2012 

"..... over and over again, opponents of the redistricting plan, be they Republicans or editorial-page writers, noted that their opposition was not based on the belief that the current system of drawing legislative and congressional districts is good.

In fact, most acknowledged that it remains badly in need of an overhaul." 

“It is an outdated process that is leading to a toxic political environment, because everybody is so partisan,” Husted said. .....

Slate.com

  It’s Appalling that Gerrymandering Is Legal 

And if the Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights Act, it’s going to get a lot worse.


"The maps are amazing: Ohio and Pennsylvania, states that went blue for Barack Obama, have congressional delegations that are heavily red. As David Weigel pointed out Wednesday, the maps show how gerrymandering saved the Republican majority in the House. ".........