The proposed state constitutional amendment, which will be voted on November 5, would overhaul the way congressional and legislative districts are drawn.
Citizens Not Politicians submits signatures for ballot initiative
Citizens Not Politicians submits signatures for initiative against gerrymandering in Ohio. With 731,000 signatures, supporters expect the initiative to be on the ballot
Mike Curtin is a former editor and associate publisher of the Columbus Dispatch and a former two-term state representative who also served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.
Geography lessons are not what they once were.
For the first two decades of the 21st century, geography was downgraded by our nation’s curriculum experts, and in 2019, geography was removed entirely from the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam curriculum.
What is not tested is not taught much.
Today, most states offer geography only as an elective in social studies classes. Most students graduate from high school without taking a standalone geography course.
In Ohio, geography classes are not required, although the state’s model curriculum recommends teaching some geography content as an adjunct for grades 1 through 8.
For example, it suggests introducing first graders to “maps of the local community, Ohio, and the United States.”
The model states that second graders should learn to distinguish between north, east, south and west.
And third graders should learn the difference between physical maps (landforms, elevations, etc.) and political maps (boundaries of cities, counties, etc.).
More: Ohio politicians cannot be trusted to put the welfare of the people first. A change will fix the process.
The fact that our geographical knowledge is continually declining is no longer a topic in the news.
Perhaps this is one reason why Statehouse politicians have become increasingly brazen over the past two decades in drawing political maps that are geographic absurdities — the most gerrymandered electoral districts in Ohio’s history.
A look at the current map of Ohio’s 15 congressional districts shows how blatantly it violates generally accepted best practices for fair districting.
These standards, mentioned in the Ohio Constitution, state that districts:
- Keep the population as equal as possible.
- Be compact (square, rectangular, hexagonal) and not irregularly shaped.
- Be cohesive – keep neighboring communities together.
- Does not feel tempted to favor or disadvantage any political party.
No one acting in good faith and attempting to follow these best practices would draw a map like the current map of Ohio’s congressional districts.
And in no region of Ohio is gerrymandering as obvious as in the northwest.
- The fourth, fifth, and ninth congressional districts are the most convoluted, misshapen, and incompact districts of all.
- The Fourth District winds 150 miles, a 2 1/2 hour drive, from Fort Loramie in Shelby County to Sullivan in Ashland County.
- The Fifth District stretches 180 miles, a nearly three-hour drive, from Mercer County on the Indiana border to Lorain County near Cleveland.
- The Ninth District stumbles 125 miles, a two-hour drive, from Defiance to Vermilion, pretending these communities are Toledo’s natural neighbors.
These and other oddly shaped districts are an example of the arrogance of cartographers in the Statehouse who act as if Ohioans don’t know or don’t care about insisting on congressional maps that respect them and their communities.
Absurdly drawn districts are the result of an attempt to squeeze as many of the opposing party’s voters into as few districts as possible, thereby leaving more districts for the party that controls the mapping process.
One of the most devastating consequences of gerrymandering is that there are fewer and fewer truly contested districts, leading to partisanship and polarization that have reached dangerous levels in Congress and many state legislatures.
That’s why the debate in Ohio this fall over a vote on proposed redistricting is so important.
Thomas Suddes: Ohioans have a chance to regain the power seized by lawmakers
The proposed state constitutional amendment, which will be voted on November 5, would overhaul the way congressional and legislative districts are drawn.
The amendment would take power over map-making away from politicians in the Statehouse and give it to a 15-member independent panel made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents.
If voters approve the plan, Ohio would follow the example of Arizona (2000), California (2008), Colorado (2018), and Michigan (2018) in creating an independent process for drawing districts. In many ways, Ohio’s plan is similar to Michigan’s, which passed by a margin of 61 to 39.
The coming election campaign, which will undoubtedly be expensive and bitter, will offer many educational opportunities in the areas of geography and political science for elementary school students – another subject that unfortunately receives too little attention in today’s classrooms.
Ohio’s model curriculum, by the way, offers guidelines rather than prescriptions and suggests familiarizing third-graders with “the rights and responsibilities that are important to preserving our democracy.”
Mike Curtin is a former editor and associate publisher of the Columbus Dispatch and a former two-term state representative who also served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.
