After the 2010 census Ohio's 18 congressional districts of the United States House of Representatives were cut to 16, as a result of Ohio's fourth-slowest population growth rate in the country. This meant that the state legislative and congressional district maps would have to be redrawn.
In the fall of 2011 the Apportionment Board for legislative redistricting began its work. Here were the people on the board in charge of drawing the new congressional districts:
Governor John Kasich (R)
Auditor David Yost (R)
Senator Tom Niehaus (R)
House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D)
...and you guessed it none other than newly elected Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)
The 111th United States Congress from January 3, 2009 to January 3, 2011 consisted of 10 democratic representatives and 8 republican from the state of Ohio. Since the redrawn congressional maps of 2011 the Ohio representatives have been consistently 4 democrats and 12 republicans.
Eight years after the new map was created On May 3, 2019, a three-judge panel from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio declared Ohio's 2012 district map contrary to Article One of the United States Constitution, as "an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander." The ruling, by the panel from the Federal District Court in Cincinnati, ordered new maps to be drawn by June 14, 2019 to be used for the 2020 election.
Using terminology allegedly coined by the team of then-Speaker of the House John Boehner, Fram said the “Franklin County sinkhole” was the centerpiece of the new legislative map. He said the term referred to “packing” Democratic voters into a new Franklin County district that would ensure several surrounding districts would remain under Republican control. Fram then discussed an email written by RNC Redistricting Coordinator Tom Hofeller, in which downtown Columbus was referred to as “dog meat voting territory.”
-Kevin Koeninger, Courthouse News Service
“In this case, the bottom line is that the dominant party in State government manipulated district lines in an attempt to control electoral outcomes and thus direct the political ideology of the State’s congressional delegation. “In a free society the State is directed by political doctrine, not the other way around.” Calif. Democratic Party, 530 U.S. at 590 (Kennedy, J., concurring). For these reasons, H.B. 369 is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.”
-From the ruling
Republican officials asked to delay remapping. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the state of Ohio’s request to delay a court-ordered redraw of Ohio’s congressional maps.
“These very questions were already pending before the Supreme Court in cases from other states… Common sense suggested waiting for those decisions, due next month – and now, the Supreme Court itself has said it is so.” said a statement Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (who helped draw the map) released after the court’s announcement.
On June 27th 2019 those pending questions were answered. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government does not have the authority to block the election maps drawn up by state lawmakers, no matter how partisan the motivation behind the maps' composition might be.
“We have no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absence of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority," said Chief Justice John Roberts. Among the majority were Republican President Donald Trump appointed justices Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh. (Both confirmations were enabled by a rule change made by the Senate Republican majority in April 2017, which allowed nominations to be advanced by a simple majority vote rather than the historical norm of a three-fifths super majority vote.)
In October of 2019 The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the challenge of the three-judge panel declaring Ohio's 2012 district map unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The manipulated district lines by the dominant republican party in state government shall remain for the 2020 election. All of Ohio's 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for election in 2020.
Honestly, it's frustrating researching more corruption in my home state. If you'd like to hear more please click the link from the Koeninger article it's unbelievably disheartening. I am a voter in Ohio's 3rd congressional district, or as Ohio republicans call it the Franklin County sinkhole, dog meat voting territory. The 2012 district map was designed to create an Ohio congressional delegation with a 12 to 4 Republican advantage – and lock it in for a decade. That is exactly how it has gone these past eight years. This year's election will determine how the last two years of that decade will play out.
In the fall of 2011 the Apportionment Board for legislative redistricting began its work. Here were the people on the board in charge of drawing the new congressional districts:
Governor John Kasich (R)
Auditor David Yost (R)
Senator Tom Niehaus (R)
House Minority Leader Armond Budish (D)
...and you guessed it none other than newly elected Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)
The 111th United States Congress from January 3, 2009 to January 3, 2011 consisted of 10 democratic representatives and 8 republican from the state of Ohio. Since the redrawn congressional maps of 2011 the Ohio representatives have been consistently 4 democrats and 12 republicans.
Eight years after the new map was created On May 3, 2019, a three-judge panel from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio declared Ohio's 2012 district map contrary to Article One of the United States Constitution, as "an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander." The ruling, by the panel from the Federal District Court in Cincinnati, ordered new maps to be drawn by June 14, 2019 to be used for the 2020 election.
Using terminology allegedly coined by the team of then-Speaker of the House John Boehner, Fram said the “Franklin County sinkhole” was the centerpiece of the new legislative map. He said the term referred to “packing” Democratic voters into a new Franklin County district that would ensure several surrounding districts would remain under Republican control. Fram then discussed an email written by RNC Redistricting Coordinator Tom Hofeller, in which downtown Columbus was referred to as “dog meat voting territory.”
-Kevin Koeninger, Courthouse News Service
“In this case, the bottom line is that the dominant party in State government manipulated district lines in an attempt to control electoral outcomes and thus direct the political ideology of the State’s congressional delegation. “In a free society the State is directed by political doctrine, not the other way around.” Calif. Democratic Party, 530 U.S. at 590 (Kennedy, J., concurring). For these reasons, H.B. 369 is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.”
-From the ruling
Republican officials asked to delay remapping. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the state of Ohio’s request to delay a court-ordered redraw of Ohio’s congressional maps.
“These very questions were already pending before the Supreme Court in cases from other states… Common sense suggested waiting for those decisions, due next month – and now, the Supreme Court itself has said it is so.” said a statement Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (who helped draw the map) released after the court’s announcement.
On June 27th 2019 those pending questions were answered. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government does not have the authority to block the election maps drawn up by state lawmakers, no matter how partisan the motivation behind the maps' composition might be.
In October of 2019 The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the challenge of the three-judge panel declaring Ohio's 2012 district map unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The manipulated district lines by the dominant republican party in state government shall remain for the 2020 election. All of Ohio's 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for election in 2020.
Honestly, it's frustrating researching more corruption in my home state. If you'd like to hear more please click the link from the Koeninger article it's unbelievably disheartening. I am a voter in Ohio's 3rd congressional district, or as Ohio republicans call it the Franklin County sinkhole, dog meat voting territory. The 2012 district map was designed to create an Ohio congressional delegation with a 12 to 4 Republican advantage – and lock it in for a decade. That is exactly how it has gone these past eight years. This year's election will determine how the last two years of that decade will play out.
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