It's Time to Slay the Gerrymander
A broad coalition of Ohioans, including the Ohio AFL-CIO, is working to “Slay the Gerrymander” by placing a proposed constitutional amendment to bar partisan gerrymandering on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot. In coming months, we will no doubt be inundated with arguments about the need to save the poor gerrymander as Statehouse politicians chortle at their ability to control the message.
The gerrymander is a metaphor that describes state legislative or congressional districts that are neither compact nor contiguous. These odd-shaped districts meander around electoral precincts to produce districts that are deliberately designed to perpetuate political control for those drawing district lines.
This brings us to November, when the statewide ballot will likely include another effort to “Slay the Gerrymander.” The proposed “Citizens Not Politicians” amendment will bar partisan gerrymandering and will remove politicians from the process of drawing state and congressional district lines.
In thinking about the important decision they will be asked to make, Ohio voters should remember former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown’s observation, in a 2012 dissent in a case challenging Ohio apportionment, that “neither party stands before this court with clean hands or intellectual purity. Each party has used the apportionment process for political gain with almost utter disregard for the dictates of [the Ohio Constitution].” And since the early 1970s, one party or the other has adopted district lines that resulted in politicians choosing their voters, not voters choosing their representatives.
The gerrymander has survived for far too long. In November, Ohioans will have the opportunity to exterminate this manmade creature by approving the “Citizens Not Politicians” amendment which would remove politicians from the redistricting process. If Ohio voters do so, they will “Slay the Gerrymander.” And our state will move a long way toward the goal of reforming the political process for the benefit of all Ohioans.