How gerrymandering in Ohio results in extremist laws (Cleveland, Cincinnati: insuring, home)

[WRnative]

"The New Yorker" explains how Republican gerrymandering in Ohio has resulted in anti-abortion restrictions, not supported by the majority of Ohioans, that in coming months may become yet more extreme, and even ban certain forms contraception.

<<According to David Niven, a political-science professor at the University of Cincinnati, a 2020 survey indicated that less than fourteen per cent of Ohioans support banning all abortions without exceptions for rape and incest. And a 2019 Quinnipiac University poll showed that only thirty-nine per cent of Ohio voters supported the kind of “heartbeat” law that the legislature passed. But the Democrats in the Ohio legislature had no way to mount resistance: since 2012, the Republicans have had a veto-proof super-majority in both chambers. The Democratic state representative Beth Liston, a pediatrician and an internist in Ohio, who voted against the bill, told me, “Doctors are going to be afraid of providing ordinary care. Women are going to die....”


The legislative-district maps in Ohio have been deliberately drawn so that many Republicans effectively cannot lose, all but insuring that the Party has a veto-proof super-majority. As a result, the only contests most Republican incumbents need worry about are the primaries—and, because hard-core partisans dominate the vote in those contests, the sole threat most Republican incumbents face is the possibility of being outflanked by a rival even farther to the right.


“Ohio is about the second most gerrymandered statehouse in the country,” Niven told me. “It doesn’t have a voter base to support a total abortion ban, yet that’s a likely outcome.” He concluded, “Ohio has become the Hindenburg of democracy.” >>


https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...hing-democracy

[Natural510]

We passed the law to curb gerrymandering, the current gerrymandered politicians in office refuse to comply, and there is no one to force them to do so. So much for the checks & balances which are supposed to be the foundation of our democracy.

[216facts]

Bunch of uneducated, religious zealots under the rotunda.

[SlideRules99]

OH is one of seven states receiving “F” grades on 2022 redistricting proposals in the Princeton Gerrymandering Project study. Four were Democratic, three were Republican.

https://www.axios.com/2022/02/18/red...dterm-election

The New Yorker clearly picked OH based on the hot button abortion topic, exacerbated by a highly publicized incident.

At least OH citizens have voted to curb this atrocious gerrymandering practice.

FYI, in my former state (OR = “F” grade), there is no pretense of fairness re gerrymandering, and evidently no desire by voting public to curb such practices. (The initiatives have failed to even make the Nov ballot for vote…).

[rlw366]

If politics was fair and honest - ( I know, never!)... wouldn't the simplest way to determine voting districting at the state and federal level is to use 2 things:

1. a clear outline map of the state (in this case Ohio).
2. a sheet of graph paper

Lay clear outline map over the sheet of graph paper. Boom! There are the voting districts. Carve it in stone - would never change....

[ohioaninsc]

We the people in this state need to pass a constitutional amendment to protect woman's right to choose.
We also need to pass a new amendment that creates a truly independent nonpartisan commission to redraw legislative districts...take it out of the hands of anyone that is a Republican or Democrat.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

We the people in this state need to pass a constitutional amendment to protect woman's right to choose.
We also need to pass a new amendment that creates a truly independent nonpartisan commission to redraw legislative districts...take it out of the hands of anyone that is a Republican or Democrat.

We do. And fast. If Ohio wants to continue to be a respected and viable state, a place to consider when relocating, this needs to stop.

For the women of Ohio - we need to reform this draconian legislation in regard to a woman selecting to control her own reproductive choices.

When I left the NY metropolitan area, I thought I was moving to OHIO - the state of Presidents and Astronauts. Home of Case Western Reserve, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Kenyon, Dennison, College of Wooster - places that my Long Island friends attended and loved.
I went to college in New England with a few people from Shaker Heights, and a boyfriend who was the son of a doctor and college professor, from Findlay.

My point is, I never thought of Ohio as a "backwater state" run by fundamentalist Christians. Now, it has become increasingly similar to West Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana.

These are states where I'd NEVER live.

"JD Vance" (not his real name) is NOT a really an Ohioan. He's a southerner. He changed his name, his state - I forget which Appalachian state his family came here from - but he's a sleazy snake oil salesman. I wouldn't be surprised if he was raised in a church that handled snakes.
Now he's converted to Roman Catholicism? Really. How did he make that particular choice? With the help of a political strategist?

We are at a crossroads. Do we want to be the Alabama of the North?

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by WRnative

"The New Yorker" explains how Republican gerrymandering in Ohio has resulted in anti-abortion restrictions, not supported by the majority of Ohioans, that in coming months may become yet more extreme, and even ban certain forms contraception.

Thanks for that link. Very chilling.

Glad the article called out Jean Schmidt, who I see is now spreading her vitriolic nonsense in the statehouse instead of in Congress. The old girl needs to find more marathons to run to keep her busy and out of politics.

Originally Posted by sheena12

My point is, I never thought of Ohio as a "backwater state" run by fundamentalist Christians. Now, it has become increasingly similar to West Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana.

When I moved to Ohio in 1977 from Pennsylvania as a college freshman, I was energized by how progressive Ohio as a whole was in comparison, both politically and socially. Not all of Ohio, certainly - living in Dayton and then Cleveland, and moving to Lebanon and working in Batavia, created culture shock that still stirs up trauma. For instance, having my 5-year-old neighbor telling me that I was going to hell because I was Roman Catholic. Her parents upbraided her for that comment, but where did she hear it? Sunday school?

Now I'm sad at how things have regressed in the 18 years since I returned to Pennsylvania (which has its backwater issues as well, but at least the gerrymandering nonsense was resolved).

[SlideRules99]

Ohio in the present day is not New England, folks.

For decades, the working class here voted the same party as the elite Martha’s Vineyard set.

So you got fooled.

With that dynamic having largely disappeared and/or flipped (for reasons that “think tank” types have analyzed to death…), it is now the state virtually surrounded by WVA, KY, and IN. And those influences have been filling the void, like it or not.

Sure, we have New England style towns, plenty of liberal college enclaves, and big city culture. But the totality of the state is not consistent with that profile.

Voters are fickle, so it could shift back, who knows. Personally I’ll be interested to see how the abortion issue plays into things. Midterms will be an interesting study.

[jas75]

Originally Posted by rlw366

If politics was fair and honest - ( I know, never!)... wouldn't the simplest way to determine voting districting at the state and federal level is to use 2 things:

1. a clear outline map of the state (in this case Ohio).
2. a sheet of graph paper

Lay clear outline map over the sheet of graph paper. Boom! There are the voting districts. Carve it in stone - would never change....

This could work ... in an alternate universe where the population was evenly distributed across the entire state. Otherwise, it would be even more effective than the current gerrymander in ensuring a permanent majority for the party who dominates in less populated areas.

But in the real world (to the dismay of some), legislative districts are required to have virtually equal populations based on the most recent census.