Ohio Republicans Ignore Reforms, Unveil Gerrymandered Maps

For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2021
Contact:
Fabiola Rodriguez
rodriguez@redistrictingaction.org

Today, less than a week before Ohio’s final map adoption deadline, and after missing a deadline one week ago, Republicans finally introduced - and the Commission officially proposed on a party line 5-2 vote - draft state House and Senate maps that flatly ignore the spirit of the redistricting reform measure Ohioans overwhelmingly voted for in 2015. 

“For the last decade, Ohioans have lived with some of the most gerrymandered districts in the country and the Republicans just managed to propose maps that are even worse than the ones we have now,” said Katy Shanahan, Ohio State Director for All On The Line. “Our reform in 2015 was a flat rejection of what happened in 2011, when our maps were drawn behind closed doors and to gerrymander the Republicans into supermajorities in seats that they just aren’t winning in votes at the ballot box. These proposed maps ignore everything we fought for in the reforms.”

“The proposed Republican maps would relegate Ohio to another ten years of communities being carved apart, votes being undermined, and dilution of political power,” Shanahan continued. “This is not what we demanded in our reforms and we will work diligently to fight against these maps.”

From one corner of the state to the other, the Republican proposed map is rigged against the people of Ohio. Despite the fact that Republicans have won roughly 55% of the statewide share of votes across the last decade, the proposed maps would give Republicans 66% of the House and Senate seats. The proposed House and Senate districts undermine the political power of Ohio’s communities of color particularly in areas like Dayton and in Cleveland where districts are drawn to crack apart Black voters from more similar communities or where they are packed into a few districts - both of which have the end result of diluting their votes. Additionally, these proposed maps go out of their way to separate communities of interest. For example, Ohio’s major metropolitan areas and their surrounding suburbs are drawn with district boundaries that aim to separate people from communities with which they share similar interests. 

All On The Line will - as we have for more than two years - continue to organize Ohioans to engage in the redistricting process to ensure that the maps that we get are ones that are fair, representative of our communities, and reflective of our voters.

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