Ohio is another state which has been gerrymandered by the GOP, who have retained a vast majority in the legislature ever since. However, they’ve apparently been watching what’s been happening to other states such as Pennsylvania (GOP gerrymander) and Maryland (Democratic gerrymander) and decided to be proactive on the matter. They offered an Amendment to the Ohio Constitution on the matter, known as Issue 1, to change the process from a simple majority vote + signature of the governor to a more complext process, as described in Vox by Andrew Prokop:
- To start off, the Ohio legislature would be tasked with drawing a new map. But they could no longer pass it with a simple majority vote. They’d need three-fifths support and the support of at least half the members of both major parties, in each chamber, as well as the governor’s signature.
- If there’s no deal, the congressional map-drawing would be punted over to the seven-member Ohio commission that exists to handle the state legislature’s redistricting. Here, again, bipartisanship would be necessary — at least two minority-party members would have to agree to approve a new map.
- If the commission fails, the job would be tossed back to the Ohio legislature. In that case, the threshold for success would fall, but bipartisanship would still be necessary to pass a map — at least one-third of each party’s members would have to vote for it, to pass it and send it for the governor’s signature.
- Finally, if all these efforts fail, the legislature would be permitted to pass a map with simple majority support. But the catch is that this new map would only last four years, rather than the usual 10. And again, the governor’s signature would be required.
From the same article:
“I think it largely enshrines the process that we have,” says Republican state Sen. Matt Huffman. “It still leaves it in the hands of the majority party in the legislature, because people elected the majority party to make these decisions. But it also enshrines the concept of minority rights.”
Not really. This will be an opportunity for corruption in three ways, all related to the commission in #2. First, there’s old-fashioned bribery, whether it’s cash or special consideration for the minority party members of the commission. Second, what’s to keep a member of the commission from switching parties? And, related to number two, the third would be a ‘mole’ in the other party, although that’s admittedly a little far-fetched.
And since step 4 exists, the status quo is maintained in the event of failure. Big win for the Republicans. In fact, step 4 is the hammer of the process – Either agree to our marginally better map or you’re stuck with the Big Bad One for another four years! It’s all about the power politics, folks.
The best way to do these things is to have an objective, non-political mechanism. So far, I haven’t seen one for the American system, but that doesn’t mean one cannot be devised. Perhaps having the judiciary devise a redistricting map as constrained by the efficiency gap would work. I haven’t given it a lot of thought.
