State Representative Jim Buchy
Ohio District Maps Reflect Democracy, Not Gerrymandering 

Once every 10 years, elected officials in Ohio are tasked with re-drawing the maps for congressional, state senate, and state house districts. This process, known as redistricting, has received a lot of attention lately because new maps were drawn last year in response to the results of the 2010 census. As a member of the Ohio redistricting reform task force, I have been closely studying this issue. Several interesting facts about the history of redistricting in Ohio have stood out to me. 

In 1970, Ohioans approved a constitutional amendment that established the Apportionment Board to draw lines for the Ohio House and Senate. This board is comprised of the governor, the state auditor, the secretary of state, one person chosen by Republican leadership, and one person chosen by Democratic leadership. Because 4 of the 5 members of the Board were Republicans in the most recent redistricting cycle, many Democrats have claimed that the new maps are slanted to favor Republican candidates. These claims are part of the reason the General Assembly convened the redistricting reform task force. However, the research I have done as a member of the task force has not revealed any conclusive evidence of gerrymandered legislative maps during the last 40 years 

In each decade following redistricting, the party that was not in control of the Apportionment Board still held the majority in either the Ohio House or Senate for at least two years. For example, Democrats drew the lines in 1981, but Republicans were elected to leadership in the Senate in 4 of the 5 subsequent elections. Likewise, Republicans drew the lines in 1991 and 2001, but Democrats won control of the House in 1992 and, more recently, in 2008. If the legislative maps had been gerrymandered to favor the party in power at the time of redistricting, these victories by the minority party would not have been possible. 

As you can see, a glimpse into history shows us that claims of blatant abuse of the redistricting pen for partisan purposes are simply untrue.  Most importantly, critics of the current redistricting system need to remember that the members of the Apportionment Board are democratically elected representatives of the people of Ohio. In fact, the majority of the Board members are in statewide offices, meaning they were elected by the entire state and not just by a single district. If, historically, more Board members have been Republican than Democrat, it doesn’t mean Republicans have rigged the rules—it means voters in Ohio chose (wisely, in my opinion) to elect Republicans to the Apportionment Board. The same goes for state representatives and senators. Polls may show that half of Ohioans identify as Democrats and half as Republicans, but when it comes time to turn words into actions in the voting booth, a majority vote for Republican candidates. That’s not foul play. That’s democracy.