Youngstown Vindicator...
GOP will flex redistricting muscle
Fri, July 1, 2011 

With Ohio moving its 2012 presidential primary to May, the Republican-controlled state Legislature will have more time to mess with the congressional redistricting lines to make it more difficult for Democrats to get elected to seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

But before that’s done, the Ohio Apportionment Board must redistrict the 99 state House and 33 state Senate seats with those lines taking effect in the 2012 election and used for the next decade. Each Senate seat consists of three House seats. 

The board, which will have four Republicans and one Democrat, can meet as early as Aug. 1 and must have lines drawn by Oct. 5. 

Based on the state’s population, each House seat should average 116,530 residents and each Senate seat should average 349,591 people. State law permits each seat to represent 5 percent more or less of the average. 

The Mahoning Valley lost 37,770 people while the state’s population increased by 183,364 meaning legislative districts for the area must expand in order to represent enough people. 

Before we get started, realize that the House and Senate district numbers will change with redistricting. I’m using the current numbers to make it easier to understand. 

First, those in southern Mahoning County who are a part of the House’s 61st District say good-bye next year to state Rep. Mark Okey, a Democrat from Carrollton, or his successor. Second, those in northern Trumbull County who are a part of the House’s 99th District it’s see-ya to state Rep. Casey Kozlowski, a Republican from Pierpont, or his successor. 

Mahoning County’s population of 238,823 is perfect for two House districts with Okey’s portion removed. That would be some sort of split between the current 59th District — represented by Ronald V. Gerberry, a Democrat from Austintown — and the current 60th — represented by Robert F. Hagan, a Democrat from Youngstown. 

The constituent number would be a bit higher than average, but well within the 5-percent margin. 

Like Mahoning, Trumbull County will be split in half between two districts with the small portion represented by Kozlowski absorbed into one or both new districts. But Trumbull’s population shrunk too much. An even population split would give 105,156 to the two districts. Each of those districts would need to add 5,575 residents to get to the minimum number. 

State Rep. Tom Letson of Warren, D-64th, the ranking minority member of the State Government and Elections Subcommittee on Redistricting, said one possibility is to take a western portion of Mahoning. Another possibly, he said, is to add portions of Portage County to give those two districts the needed number of residents. 

On top of that, Republicans could make significant changes to the look of the two remaining House seats in Trumbull, he said. 

Columbiana County has been one House district for many years. But with its population dropping to 107,841 that district needs 2,863 people to be at its minimum amount. That could come from Carroll County, which would help that district become a stronger Republican seat. 

I’ll save Ohio Senate redistricting scenarios for another day. But with declining populations, the districts representing the Valley will expand. 

Read it at the Youngstown Vindicator