State Government

The art of the gerrymander, creating political districts for the purpose of electing those of your own political party has a long and rich history in my native state of Ohio. I came of age in Ohio in the 1970’s, when Democrats and Republicans accepted some moderate advantages from the district maps such that political power shifted back and forth between the parties. By the 90’s, the Republicans decided to sideline the Democratic party and all Democratic party voters, by using gerrymandering to ensure Republican victories in the polls no matter how the voters cast their ballots. Consider the evidence.

Elections Vote Counts by Party

* Third party votes not listing in this table – source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Ohio

Ohio Elected Officials during Presidential Election Years

Year	Ohio Governor	Ohio House	Ohio Senate
2020	Mike Dewine (R)	61 62%(R)/38 38%(D)	24 73%(R)/9 27%(D)
2016	John Kasich (R)	65 66%(R)/34 34%(D)	23 70%(R)/10 30%(D)
2012	John Kasich (R)	59 60%(R)/40 40%(D)	23 70%(R)/10 30%(D)
2008	Ted Strickland (D)	53 54%(R)/46 46%(D)	21 64%(R)/12 36%(D)
2004	Bob Taft (R)	61 62%(R)/38 38%(D)	22 67%(R)/11 33%(D)
2000	Bob Taft (R)	59 60%(R)/40 40%(D)	21 64%(R)/12 36%(D)
1996	George Voinovich (R)	60 61%(R)/39 39%(D)	21 64%(R)/12 36%(D)
1992	George Voinovich (R)	53 54%(D)/46 46%(R)	20 61%(R)/13 39%(D)
1988	Dick Celeste (D)	59 60%(D)/40 40%(R)	19 58%(R)/14 42%(D)
1984	Dick Celeste (D)	59 60%(D)/40 40%(R)	18 55%(R)/15 45%(D)

Data in this table – source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Ohio

Republican Ronald Reagan won Ohio as as well as the presidency in 1984 – only the Ohio State Senate had a Republican majority in that same election – 18R/15D 55%/45% somewhat less than the percentages of Republican to Democratic voters in that election – of course, not all Ohio State Senators were up for election. All other offices in Ohio were held by Democrats; from the Governorship, to both US Ohio Senators, and a slight majority of US Ohio Representatives – 11D/10R. The Ohio State Senate would never be controlled by the Democratic party again – except for a 2 year period 2009-2010.

By 1996, even though William Clinton won Ohio and the presidency, all state offices in Ohio were controlled by the Republican party. The Ohio Senate: 21R/12D 64%/36%, the Ohio House: 60R/39D 61%/39%. Even though there were more Democratic party votes statewide in both the ’92, and ’96 elections, we have these uneven results in the party officials elected to office. This was a direct result of the Ohio Republican party control of redistricting after the 1991 census and ensured that more Republicans would be elected to office through a more aggressive gerrymander than was customary in Ohio Politics up to that time. ¹

There have been two more attempts at redistricting reform in Ohio – in 2011 and 2020, both have resulted in either the same gerrymandered or worse results. The last set of maps used in the 2020 elections were so bad that the Ohio Supreme court ruled them unfair, but according to the rules of the last round of redistricting reform – could not produce a fairer map for consideration. And the flawed districts we have in Ohio continue to be used. ²

Once again, redistricting reform is on the ballot in Ohio. Republicans could not keep this issue from going directly to the voters, however through their control of State offices notably the highly partisan Republican Frank LaRose as secretary of state; and control of the Ohio Supreme court, managed to slander the new reform as gerrymandering in the ballet language itself. This arrogance and contempt for the voters of Ohio, even the members of their own party is reason enough in itself to never again elect Republicans to office in Ohio.

1. Slide 3, https://my.lwv.org/sites/default/files/leagues/wysiwyg/[current-user:og-user-node:1:title]/ohios_gerrymanding_problem.pdf ↩︎
2. This American Life Podcast: Mapmaker, mapmaker make me a map ↩︎