Should voters have more say in Ohio's Legislature?

WVXU's Cincinnati Edition turned to a University of Cincinnati political science professor to examine the question of gerrymandering in Ohio and one lawmaker's proposed solution.

State Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Cincinnati, has proposed adding more seats to the Ohio House of Representatives to address legislative maps that Democrats and several judicial decisions have said are unfair to voters because of gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is a tool in which the dominant political party draws up legislative maps that help them maintain legislative majorities during the 10-year redistricting. Critics have said gerrymandering essentially allows lawmakers to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their lawmakers in elections. Redrawn maps often will pack all the opposing party's voters into a handful of districts or spread them out into multiple minority districts to maintain majority party rule.

The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice says because of gerrymandering, the majority of Ohio voters live in districts where general election outcomes are decided before a single vote is cast.

Ohio voters in November voted no on a ballot question that would have turned the process of drawing up legislative maps over to a bipartisan commission appointed by retired judges instead of the dominant political party.

UC College of Arts and Sciences Associate Professor David Niven said Ohio's legislative districts do have more constituents than districts in many other states. But he said adding more seats would not necessarily cure gerrymandering.

“You could still skew it. Gerrymandering is a pretty powerful force,“ Niven said.

Niven teaches in UC's School of Public and International Affairs.

Blessing also is proposing changes to voter initiatives that would cut the required number of signatures for voter-sponsored legislation to encourage avenues outside of constitutional amendments.

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Featured image at top: UC Associate Professor David Niven teaches political science in UC's School of Public and International Affairs. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand