While the rest of the country focuses on the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Ohio has other things to worry about.
Issue 1 is a constitutional amendment that was started by the citizens of Ohio to establish a committee on gerrymandering. This committee, which would be titled the Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), is independent from politicians, but would still consist of at least two Democrats, two Republicans, and two Independents. The committee would be selected by a screening panel that would consider multiple factors about each candidate, including qualifications, conflicts of interests, community ties, party affiliation, and much more. All of these factors are important for establishing this committee, which would place heavy restrictions on gerrymandering in the state.
Before we go any further, it's important to define gerrymandering and why some people consider it bad. Gerrymandering is a tool used by politicians to manipulate the boundaries of political districts (such as congressional districts) to favor a party. Congressional Districts should be proportional to each other so that there isn’t an unfair balance of power. And while they do stay proportional, districts tend to lean heavily left or right. The Republican state legislature packs most of the Democrats into 5 districts. These races are all but official come election day. For the other 10 districts, they are almost always going to be Republican with the way things are currently proportioned. And it isn’t just Ohio. Illinois is heavily gerrymandered in favor of the Democrats. The majority of the Republican voters are packed into fewer districts, so they get less representation.
Why is this a problem? Well, there are two main reasons. The first reason is obvious: it creates a clear bias for one party to stay in power and throws the other party under the bus. Simply put: it's a tool for power. Secondly, it creates unfair representation for the state. In the 2020 Presidential election, 53.3% of Ohio voted for the Republican candidate Donald Trump, while 45.2% voted for the Democrat, Joe Biden. While the presidential race isn’t a surefire way to predict how someone will vote in a congressional race, the 53.3% vote for Republicans is a far cry from the 66.7% of the representatives in Congress from Ohio who are Republicans. And again, this happens in other states, for both parties. The point is, that it creates an unfair balance of power for one party over the other.
This issue is too convoluted to talk about in a single article. There are arguments from people who both oppose and support issues that deserve to be heard. If you want to learn more about the details of Issue One, they can be found on the Ohio Secretary of State website or other websites that cover political issues, such as ballotpedia.org. Make sure you do your research on the issue so that you vote for what you feel strongly about. Being an informed voter is one of the most important things you can do when you head to the polls on November 5th.
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