Letter to the Editor: When will the Ohio GOP stop cheating?
Two separate referendums were overwhelmingly passed in Ohio, making it clear that Ohio voters want fair district maps. But it appears that the Ohio GOP doesn’t care what Ohio voters want, or what the Ohio constitution says.
The Republican Supermajority in the legislature has resulted in a supermajority on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, and the GOP members of that commission have flatly refused to consider a fair map. They repeatedly approve unfair, unconstitutional maps that provide the Republican Party an unfair advantage for the Ohio Statehouse, Ohio Senate, and U.S. Congressional elections.
Three times now the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down their maps. With the third, the OSC required they hire outside independent mapping experts to assist in drawing the maps. They did that. The commission hired 2 experts – one for the Republicans, one for the Democrats, for $50,000 in taxpayer money.
On the night of the deadline set by the Ohio Supreme Court, they tossed the work of those independent mapmakers, and approved a map 97% the same as the third map, the one already invalidated. None of the members of the commission saw it before voting on it. There was zero bipartisan discussion.
This is an insult to the Ohio Supreme Court, an insult to Ohio voters, the independent map makers, and a slap in the face of Ohio taxpayers.
The commission members must be held in contempt for showing such contempt for their positions. Ohio has wasted millions of dollars printing ballots based on unconstitutional, invalidated maps, for a primary we cannot hold on May 3, will soon waste millions more on a second primary election made necessary by the GOP refusal to stop trying to cheat.
This has gone on long enough. If you have to cheat to win, you are no longer a legitimate political party – you are an arm of an oligarchy.
– Holly Oyster, Alliance
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Letter to the Editor: When will the Ohio GOP stop cheating?
