An event sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Athens County Monday night sought to tackle issues of unfair political representation in Ohio — or at least make them easier to understand.
As the state prepares to redraw congressional and legislative districts, some say that the process, if not handled correctly, will result in further political bias by allowing the major party — which would be the Republicans — to construct districts in their favor.
District maps are redrawn every ten years.
The event featured Ann Henkener, a board member at the state chapter of the league. About 35 people attended the meeting at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St.
“I look at Ohio as a very 50-50 state,” Henkener said, “I look at Ohio as a battleground state … Where did the battle go?”
Henkener said that there has been a decrease in competitiveness in Ohio politics due to biased appropriation of congressional districts to favor the majority party in Congress — a technique known as gerrymandering.
She explained that gerrymandering happens when members of the state’s appropriation board set up district lines so that there are more districts that will vote for the majority party, rather than the minority party. The board is composed of the governor, secretary of state, state auditor and a democratic and republican appointee.
Henkener provided examples of several past attempts to prevent gerrymandering, including a plan proposed in 1981 by former Athens resident and Ohio State professor David Horn, which would have required that each party draw up their own district lines, with the most competitive party winning.
The measure drew opposition from the state legislature, but Ellsworth Holden, a co-president of the League of Women Voters of Athens County, said he thinks it could have passed if there had been an interim period between when it was passed and when it was enacted.
Mary Costello, a co-president of the League of Women Voters of Athens County, said she thought the event helped to clarify a murky issue to Athens locals.
Henkener said that she wants to make the issue clear enough so that a person could have a conversation about it with someone on the way to his or her car in a parking lot, although she admitted that was no easy task.
“You either have it done by people who are good and kind and generous … the bipartisan angels … or you have very strict regulation,” she said. “We’re working on the angles, but we haven’t found them yet.”
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