To the editor:
Petitions are being circulated among Athens County voters to get the required number of signatures needed to add an initiative to the general ballot in November. This initiative if successful will an amendment to the Ohio Constitution which will change the way the map of election districts are drawn. The goal is to make these districts fair and representative of the moderate majority if citizens.
Recently the process of establishing voting districts in Ohio has been in the hands of politicians and the political party in control of the General Assembly. They have had the power to draw up the map of voting districts for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate and Ohio House.
Thus those politicians and their party in control of the General Assembly are allowed to draw up the boundaries of THEIR OWN voting districts. They will obviously include as many voters as they know will vote for their candidate and party as they can. This is what is known as Gerrymandering. It’s a pretty sweet deal: right from the beginning, even before the general election, you know you have stacked the deck and you will win.
Gerrymandering is nothing new. Both Democrats and Republicans have been guilty of this practice for decades and will be again if the current opportunity exists.
So why should we care? Because Gerrymandering automatically nullifies the voices of the few voters from the other party left in the Gerrymandered district. They know their votes never have a chance to count in what is supposed to be a Representative Democracy of the people. Gerrymandering reduces government responsiveness to the needs of these marginalized voters.
Gerrymandering results in a one party state and a Super Majority in the legislature. The members of the party responsible for the Gerrymandering know they will face no serious challenge to their control. This causes them to feel untouchable and not to have to be accountable to the voters. In such a situation you have politicians whose self interests become their number one priority. In such an environment elected officials are tempted by outside actors to commit acts of corruption.
Gerrymandering removes any incentive for a political party to improve its policies and candidates, and therefore leads to poor choices for the voters. The system, when untainted by Gerrymandering forces the party suffering losses to re-examine itself and find ways to improve by offering better policy and candidates the next election. This does not happen if the party controlling the Gerrymandered district never loses. Why change if you will win everytime.
We need better government. Right now the majority of Ohio citizens do not want either the extreme left or right wing controlling government. We want moderate common sense government which is effective and responsive to us. If successful, the initiative ballot will go a long way to reform the situation and give us the government citizens in a Representative Democracy should have.
Dennis Reinhart
Jackson, Ohio
