Credit: Julie Carr Smyth/Associated Press
The Ohio Supreme Court threw out a pair of state legislative redistricting maps as well as a newly drawn congressional map last week. The twin rulings highlighted how good intentions of the voters can be scuttled by politicians with a partisan agenda.
The decision on the state legislative maps was also further proof that redistricting commissions, often seen as the solution to avoid partisan gerrymandering, are not always the answer. It showed that who controls these commissions can be the difference between fair lines and partisan lines.
The 4-3 ruling on the legislative maps found that the work of Ohio’s bipartisan redistricting commission amounted to partisan gerrymandering favoring Republicans, who just happen to control both the state House and Senate and the governor’s mansion.
A 4-3 ruling days later negated the congressional district map for the same reason, though those lines were the work of the state’s General Assembly, not […]
I know that if Pennsylvania (where I live) were to redistrict, we would have a better state government representment of Democratic districts, instead of the lop-sided map we have now, which gives Republicans an advantage.