Ohio Redistricting Reform Passes!

[Padfoot]

In case you hadn't heard, Ohio voters will be voting on a bipartisan congressional redistricting reform plan this November.  I'm not sure if the link below is the final version of the bill but I thought people might be interested to try drawing different potential maps using the new rules.

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-SJR-5

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

And another one bites the dust!


I long for an era when every state at least has strict standards like Florida and now apparently PA. Who actually does it matters a lot less, though it is still important.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Michigan has a referendum.

[jimrtex]

In case you hadn't heard, Ohio voters will be voting on a bipartisan congressional redistricting reform plan this November.  I'm not sure if the link below is the final version of the bill but I thought people might be interested to try drawing different potential maps using the new rules.

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-SJR-5

In case you hadn't heard, Ohio voters will be voting on a bipartisan congressional redistricting reform plan this November.  I'm not sure if the link below is the final version of the bill but I thought people might be interested to try drawing different potential maps using the new rules.

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA132-SJR-5

(1) Shall comply with US Constitution, Ohio Constitution, and the VRA.

(2) Districts shall be contiguous. Point contiguity is not permitted.

(3) Districts shall be "compact"

(4) Counties larger than one quota (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton): Hamilton may fall off the list by 2030.

(4a) If largest city more than a quota (Columbus):

Keep substantial portion of city in district. This provision includes cities and towns surrounded by Columbus as if they were part of the city.

(4b) If largest city has more than 100,000 (Cleveland and Cinciinnati)

The city shall not be split. Since Cuyahoga and Hamilton must be split, this says that in dividing the counties, the large cities shall not be split. There is language about the VRA, but with Cleveland down to about 1/2 a quota, this probably only requires placing East Cleveland and other heavily-black eastern suburbs with the city. I doubt that it requires going to Akron, which clearly violates recent SCOTUS decisions on race sorting.

(4c) There is no (4c)

This suggest that there is no pack rule, as there is for legislative districts. So a Columbus district must be created (with good faith because of the enclaves). I would read it as preventing going into the outer ring of suburbs, and possibly Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington, as there is a requirement that they be of "similar interests". In dividing Cuyahoga and Hamilton don't divide Cleveland or Cincinnati.

(5) 65 of 88 counties must not be split. 18 must not be split more than once, and five not more than twice.

Theoretically, at most 14 counties need to be divided (or fewer counties, if more splits in the county).

(6) If a district includes only part of a county, that part must be contiguous with the county boundaries. This does not make a lot of sense. If a district extends into multiple counties, then the portion in any county must reach the county boundaries in order to be self-contiguous. So it would appear to be applicable only to districts entirely in one county, which would require that a district entirely in Franklin, Cuyahoga, or Hamilton county must reach the county line. This is just a silly requirement.

(7) No more than one county may be split between two districts, unless the county has more than 400,000 persons (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery, and Lucas).

(8) An "attempt" to include a whole county in each district shall be made.

Only 22 counties are currently split, but 7 are split more than twice, and Cuyahoga is split four times and Summit are split three times.

4 and 9 split Erie and Lorain
4 and 7 split Huron and Lorain
13 and 14 split Trumbull and Portage and (Summit)
7 and 16 split Medina and Stark and (Cuyahoga)

13 and 16 split Portage and (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
11 and 14 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
14 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit) and Portage
11 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
11 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
5 and 9 split (Lucas) and Ottawa

9 and 13 do not include a whole county.

The standards are pretty mild. The procedural requirements are tougher. You could probably draw a Republican map, perhaps giving up one seat, but you won't get it implemented.

[TJ in Oregon]

(6) If a district includes only part of a county, that part must be contiguous within the county boundaries. This does not make a lot of sense. If a district extends into multiple counties, then the portion in any county must reach the county boundaries in order to be self-contiguous. So it would appear to be applicable only to districts entirely in one county, which would require that a district entirely in Franklin, Cuyahoga, or Hamilton county must reach the county line. This is just a silly requirement.

The rule says the part of a district in a split county must be contiguous within the county, not with the county border.

[catographer]

reminder of caution: Canada and the UK draw non-gerrymandered constituencies, and still have very disproportionate election results. they're fairer than ours, but still. so don't expect redistricting reform to be a panacea.

[jimrtex]

(6) If a district includes only part of a county, that part must be contiguous within the county boundaries. This does not make a lot of sense. If a district extends into multiple counties, then the portion in any county must reach the county boundaries in order to be self-contiguous. So it would appear to be applicable only to districts entirely in one county, which would require that a district entirely in Franklin, Cuyahoga, or Hamilton county must reach the county line. This is just a silly requirement.

The rule says the part of a district in a split county must be contiguous within the county, not with the county border.

Thanks! So it prevents a a district entering a county in two places.

This is not necessarily a good idea. Consider if a Columbus district reaches the Delaware county line with a couple of its northern tentacles. Then a district based in Delaware could not come into both Dublin and Westerville, for example. So instead the tentacles will be chopped just short of the county line to provide a connection.

[Hoosier_Nick]

This is kinda crap. It's still drawn by politicians. Those politicians will draw incumbent-friendly maps, benefiting both sides, though it hurts competitive elections.

[Gass3268]

This is kinda crap. It's still drawn by politicians. Those politicians will draw incumbent-friendly maps, benefiting both sides, though it hurts competitive elections.

Agreed, but based on these rules its hard to see how Democrats don't get at least one seat down in Cincinnati and maybe one more in the Cleveland area in the next decade.

[Nyvin]

This is kinda crap. It's still drawn by politicians. Those politicians will draw incumbent-friendly maps, benefiting both sides, though it hurts competitive elections.

Going by how it's worded, I'm 90% sure it's going to result in the Republicans defaulting to the last option of a 4 year map in nearly every scenario.

This is like a C- Grade redistricting reform effort.

[Orser67]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/ohio-senate-bipartisan-compromise-redistricting/552413/

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To me, this is a very significant step in the right direction, though I would also prefer an independent commission

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This is very sensible of a proposal. Kudos to Ohio!

[Nyvin]

This is very sensible of a proposal. Kudos to Ohio!

Why?   It's just going to result in the Republicans passing maps with a simple majority every 4 years,  that's exactly how it's designed.    They're going to use it to re-gerrymander the state every four years.   The proposal still leaves the politicians 100% in charge of drawing the districts too, with no effort to create fair representation in the state.

You have to be really gullible to think this will lead to fair maps in 2022.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

This is very sensible of a proposal. Kudos to Ohio!

Why?   It's just going to result in the Republicans passing maps with a simple majority every 4 years,  that's exactly how it's designed.    They're going to use it to re-gerrymander the state every four years.

You have to be really gullible to think this will lead to fair maps in 2022.

I don't see it as inherently wrong for redistricting to not be in the hands of an independent commission. It's not necessary to have an independent commission. What matters is a good set of rules. Trying to get politics completely and entirely out of redistricting is a myopia.

[ProgressiveCanadian]

Maps need to be drawn by non-politicians to fix anything.

[muon2]

Maps need to be drawn by non-politicians to fix anything.

Ideally they should be drawn by the public, winnowed to a short list by independent objective criteria, then approved from the list by the legislative body. But for the first step, that's essentially the way IA does it.