Ian Yarber, a former Oberlin school board member, considers himself a knowledgeable voter. He lives at the northeast end of Ohio鈥檚 , which stretches south and west nearly to the Indiana border.
But when it comes to how it or any of Ohio鈥檚 16 districts were drawn, he hasn鈥檛 a clue.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really know as to the rhyme or reason for the setting up the district,鈥� Yarber says. 鈥淚鈥檇 be interested to know.鈥�
Every 10 years, after each U.S. Census, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are re-distributed based on population. Then, the states get to work drawing a new map of their Congressional districts.
In Ohio, those boundaries are set by the state legislature. Over the past five decades, Ohio鈥檚 Congressional districts have become increasingly 鈥渟afe鈥� for incumbents 鈥� because they鈥檙e strategically drawn for maximum political gain.
Who Controls The Maps?
In 2011, as in 2001 and 1991, Ohio鈥檚 legislature was controlled by Republicans.
鈥淚t would be hard for the process to get any worse than it is right now in Ohio,鈥� says Rep. Kathleen Clyde.
A Democrat from Kent, Clyde has been in the Statehouse since 2011, when she was on the Congressional redistricting panel that drew the maps. But that doesn鈥檛 mean she had much input.
鈥淭he Republicans in a bunker in the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Columbus,鈥� Klyde says. 鈥淭here was no input from the public. There was no transparency. And it was just as partisan a process as you can imagine.鈥�
By the time the map reached the Statehouse floor, you could hear the frustration from people like then-Rep. Bob Hagan from Youngstown. The Democrat was among those who complained about were.
鈥淪tand up and object as much as you want!鈥� Hagan shouts.
How did a simple map lead to chaos in the Statehouse?
鈥淭hey鈥檝e drawn districts that are just simply not competitive. We know before Election Day who is going to win,鈥� says Dave Cohen of the University of Akron鈥檚 Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.
鈥淧acking And Cracking鈥�
There's an art and a science to redistricting. The U.S. Constitution says each state鈥檚 districts have to have about the same number of people. In Ohio, that鈥檚 translates to about 700,000 people.
The prohibits drawing districts to dilute the voting power of minorities. According to the national advocacy group, the , that leads to prisons being spliced into rural districts. It boosts the number of minorities in a district, but state law prevents anyone from voting while incarcerated.
Yarber was born just two years after the Voting Rights Act passed, and he takes voting rights very seriously.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to get beat or firehosed or dogs laid upon to perform that right,鈥� Yarber says. 鈥淚 believe that鈥檚 something I should do because a lot of folks gave their lives for the right to vote.鈥�
Cohen says districts can also be drawn to concentrate voters based on whether they鈥檙e likely to vote for the minority or majority parties, a practice called 鈥減acking and cracking.鈥�
鈥淵ou pack as many of the minority party鈥檚 voters into those districts,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd then the remaining ones, you kind of crack and spread out among the majority party鈥檚 districts. By doing that, you create safe seats for everybody.鈥�
Technology has made it possible to draw maps with such precision that next-door neighbors could end up in different districts based on how they鈥檒l likely vote. And Cohen says that makes it difficult for the parties to compromise.
鈥淵ou create an incentive to move their ideas and their actions and their votes more to the party鈥檚 extreme,鈥� Cohen says. 鈥淏ecause they鈥檙e not worried about losing a general election. The only thing that they鈥檙e worried about is losing a primary election.鈥�
There are competing ideas on how to fix the problem. One, , comes from the League of Women Voters and other , which is collecting signatures to get it on the November ballot. They have about half of the more than 300,000 they need.
On a recent Friday evening, at Zagara鈥檚 Grocery in Cleveland Heights, volunteers next to the Salvation Army鈥檚 bell-ringer are among those collecting signatures. One of the willing signers was Roscoe Heath, who calls gerrymandering 鈥渦n-American.鈥�
鈥淲hoever鈥檚 in power right now, they can pull strings the way they want to pull them and where the other side is under the tire tracks on the deal,鈥� Heath says.
Cohen says partisan politics has long had a hand in Congressional map drawing, but technology is accelerating its impact to breakneck speeds. He says something needs to change to keep the voters from being run over in the next redistricting cycle in 2021.
A Short History Of Ohio's Congressional Districts:
How Ohio Draws Its Districts:
- Based on the 2010 Census, Ohio has 16 Congressional seats.
- Ohio's House of Representatives has 99 districts; Ohio's state Senate has 33 districts.
- The state House and Senate create the Congressional map, with the governor's sign-off.
- The rules that apply to the map making are a U.S. Constitutional requirement that the districts have roughly the same-size population, and the requirement in the federal Voting Rights Act that minority voters not be diminished through 鈥減acking鈥� them in one district or 鈥渃racking鈥� them among many.
- Ohio has no special rules, as some other states do, that would require districts be compact or that districts do not split up cities and other 鈥渃ommunities of interest.鈥�
