OPINION: Passage of new state legislative maps hurts Athens
Danny Murnin is a junior studying journalism and assistant opinion editor for The New Political.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include the author’s information.
Back in August, Ohio voters soundly rejected a Republican-led effort to make it harder for citizens to amend the Ohio Constitution via ballot initiative.
The defeat of Issue 1 on Aug. 8 saw unusually high voter turnout for a special election in August of an odd year. This was widely attributed to the impact that the result of the election would have on this November’s citizen-initiated constitutional amendment vote on abortion access (also Issue 1). There will also be another constitutional amendment on the ballot in November, this one dealing with marijuana legalization (Issue 2).
I do not contest that the Republican effort to pass Issue 1 in August was heavily driven by wanting to make it harder for Ohioans to safeguard reproductive freedom for women. However, I believe the more pressing concern in their minds was protecting the supermajorities that allowed them to pass heavy restrictions on abortion in the first place. It is these same restrictions that pro-choice activists hope to permanently reverse this November by passing Issue 1.
For some background, in 2015, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment that established the Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) and gave the seven-member body the power to draw state legislative maps that reflect the state’s partisan split.
In 2021, the ORC was supposed to pass state legislative maps that reflected a 54% Republican, 46% Democratic divide. Instead, they passed four separate sets of state legislative maps that were rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court during a long and chaotic process. They effectively ran out the clock until a federal court ruled that the third set of maps that was rejected had to be implemented so an August primary could be held. While the maps used last year technically adhered to that 54-46 partisan split, the reason they were rejected was because a large number of the seats counted as leaning Democratic were actually pure tossups.
Currently, the original court ruling concerning the maps used in 2022 meant that the commission had to meet again this September and pass a new set of maps. This time, however, the makeup of the Ohio Supreme Court is more favorable to Republicans, meaning the two Democrats on the ORC had less leeway to push for an actually fair map that would remain in place through 2030. Instead, the two Democrats on the commission voted with the five Republicans to adopt maps that overwhelmingly favor Republicans, but aren't quite as gerrymandered as the current maps and other alternatives.
In an opinion piece in the Columbus Dispatch, State Representative Allison Russo, the House Minority Leader, a member of the commission, wrote that “a “yes” vote would include a few marginal improvements to a clearly gerrymandered map, remove the drawing pen from this commission for eight years, and give the time and space for Ohio citizens to take this process permanently out of the hands of politicians.”
When Russo mentions her hope that Ohioans take the redistricting process away from politicians, she is referring to an effort from the group Citizens Not Politicians to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year that would ideally end gerrymandering in the state. The proposed amendment, the summary language of which was recently approved by the Attorney General, would create an independent citizens commission composed of 15 members (five Republicans, five Democrats, and five independents) to draw new Congressional and state legislative maps.
If this initiative is on the ballot next November and is approved by voters, it would be a political earthquake in Ohio, as it would most likely lead to fair Congressional and state legislative maps for the first time in a long time. However, if the amendment doesn’t make it on the ballot and get approved next year, countless Ohioans will remain disenfranchised by the existing gerrymandered maps, including the state legislative ones just passed. The new Ohio House of Representatives map, in particular, is outrageous. Blatant gerrymandering is everywhere, and you don’t have to look any further than Athens County to find one of the most egregious examples. While I understand and partially agree with the reasoning Russo and Antonio gave for voting for this set of maps in the big picture, I am very upset as an Athens County voter.
For context, Athens County, as a result of the large left-leaning student population at Ohio University, has been reliably Democratic for a very long time. It voted for President Joe Biden by 15 points in 2020, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) won it by 16.9 points in the 2016 Presidential Election. However, Southeastern Ohio as a whole and the counties immediately outside of it are very red. This makes it difficult for a Democrat to win in a district that includes Athens County, but not impossible, as long as Athens County remains together in one district and isn’t split.
As a matter of fact, there are ways to draw an Ohio House district including the entirety of Athens County that could be competitive, or at the very least, fair. One possibility would be the entirety of Athens County along with most of Washington County, where Marietta is located. This hypothetical district would have voted for former President Donald Trump by 13.09 points in 2020 and by 10.21 points in 2016. Another, even better option, would be all of Athens County, all of Vinton County, and most of Ross County, where Chillicothe is located. This hypothetical district would have voted for Trump by 8.72 points in 2020 and by just 1.81 points in 2016. Marietta and Chillicothe both traditionally vote Republican, but by a much narrower margin than the other, less populated communities in their respective counties.
However, rather than putting Athens County in the appropriate place, which would be a red-learning although competitive district, Republicans have chosen to take no risks and disenfranchise thousands of voters.
In the 2022 map, the entirety of Athens County is located in the 94th House District, which also includes all of Morgan County and Meigs County, as well as a small part of Washington County. These very red surrounding areas cancel out Athens, with Trump having won the district by 17.84 points in 2020 and 12.28 in 2016.
Still, with the right candidate and in the right environment, the district could have been competitive. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown won it in 2018 by nine points, and former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (D) lost it by less than two points in his 2018 campaign for governor.
However, in the map that was just approved, Republicans made sure that no part of Athens County will ever be represented by a Democrat as long as the map is in use. They accomplished this through an egregious split of the county. Geographically, most of Athens County is in the new 94th House District, which no longer contains Morgan County but does include the entirety of Marietta County. However, the bluest part of the county, the city of Athens, is carefully carved out of the county and included in the new 95th House District. This district stretches almost entirely north and goes well beyond the confines of Southeastern Ohio. As a matter of fact, the small town of Bowerston at the far northern end of the district is nearly 40 miles closer to Cleveland than Athens. This district voted for Trump by 31.64 points in 2020.
As I said, I understand why the two Democrats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission voted to adapt these two maps. It was the lesser of two evils. Still, it is a reflection of the fact that lawmakers in the state are willing to disregard many rural communities for the sake of their own personal views and preferences. Nelsonville Auditor Taylor Sappington said this well in a social media post.
As the countdown continues toward the election this November on the two ballot initiatives, I would encourage everyone reading this piece to spread the word about gerrymandering in the state and the proposed constitutional amendment to end it. While the media tends to highlight the effects gerrymandering has on urban and suburban communities the most, rural communities hurt by gerrymandering are never given any significant attention.
We need to hold our elected leaders accountable for treating voters in Athens County like we are just a means to an end, and that our votes don’t matter. Hopefully, an independent citizens commission would give Athens County the same attention when drawing new state legislative maps that politicians currently give to larger counties.
