Ohio civil rights organizations are combining efforts to improve voter representation as the Ohio Redistricting Commission on Sept. 13 is scheduled to begin work to redraw Ohio Senate and House district maps.

After every U.S. census each decade, the state must redraw districts to allow for population changes.

On Wednesday, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative hosted a Zoom conference among members of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Ohio Unity Coalition and Ohio NAACP to discuss relaunching Ohio’s redistricting process.

Former Ohio Sen. Tom Roberts of Montgomery County said the way to have fair maps is to remove the elected officials and create a citizens commission for redistricting.

“The citizens commission will not create maps that give disproportionate, partisan advantages to either political party,” Roberts, Ohio NAACP Conference president, said. “I look forward to our debate over the next couple of weeks, but I believe the only way for us to have fair maps in the state of Ohio is to have a citizens commission on redistricting.”

Jeneice Brock, policy and advocacy director for the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, said: “We’re going to keep demanding what people voted for in the reform from over a decade ago. There are so many civil rights leaders that are part of our coalition that are willing to speak, that have different experiences from their districts where they have been disenfranchised. And they are going to be present on Sept. 13 when that official process starts.”

STRETCHED DISTRICTS

Ohio has 99 House districts and 33 Senate districts.

Petee Tally, Ohio Unity Coalition founder, said stretching districts into odd shapes on the state map is what leads to the redistricting ballot issue every so many years.

“I personally was caught up in the redistricting issue of moving, packing, or cracking black voters into a district,” Tally of Toledo, said.

“What I learned was that roughly 3,800 black voters were shifted from Ohio Senate District 11 into Ohio Senate District 2. This is a district that stretches from the center of Lucas County, and goes all the way down into some areas that, really, the voters of the central city of Lucas County, which I am from, have very little in common with.”

“We are down into a district now that stretches down past Wood County and stretches all the way over to Sandusky, and all the way east into some communities that these 3,800 voters have very little in common with,” Tally said.

Lawmakers that comprise the redistricting commission are Rep. Jeff LaRae, R-Violet Township, Senate Democrat Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio, Senate Republican Majority Whip Rob McColley and House Democrat Minority Leader C. Allison Russo. Gov. Mike DeWine, Auditor Keith Faber and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, all Republicans, are also commission members.

dnewman@tribtoday.com