Marcia Goldberg is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland.
CLEVELAND -- On May 8, Ohioans will have the chance to vote on Issue 1, a bipartisan proposal to reform the way Ohio draws its U.S. congressional districts. The League of Women Voters urges you to vote yes.
As many Ohioans know, our state is one of the most severely gerrymandered in the country. For decades, politicians have drawn political maps that allow them to choose their voters (and have not allowed voters to choose their representatives). Rather than bringing a lawsuit to protest our state's gerrymandered districts, the League of Women Voters of Ohio chose to promote measures for reform.
Transparency: There must be at least two hearings on any plan and the public can submit proposed maps. These transparency and voter-participation provisions offer particularly strong protection against biased map-making.
Susan Murnane is co-president of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland.
This proposal is the result of a rare bipartisan agreement in the state legislature, negotiated by lawmakers from both parties with the Fair Districts=Fair Elections Coalition, of which the League of Women Voters of Ohio is a founding member. And both the Ohio Republican Party and the Ohio Democratic Party have endorsed Issue 1.
Cleveland.com's Rich Exner conducted a detailed analysis of "best maps" and "worst maps" using the Issue 1 standards. He concluded that even the worst-case maps are better than what we have now.
We believe that "worst-case" maps will be avoided by two key safeguards in Issue 1: It requires at least two public hearings on any map, and it gives Ohioans the tools to submit their own maps. These transparency requirements offer strong protections for the public.
Compact districts, with a limit on splitting communities and counties. Sixty-five counties cannot be split, 18 can be split once, five (including Cuyahoga County) can be split twice, none can be split more than twice. Right now, Cuyahoga County is split three times -- into four different districts that cross county lines.
Transparency: There must be at least two hearings on any plan and the public can submit proposed maps.
You do not need to declare a political party to vote for Issue 1 in May; you can request a nonpartisan "issues-only" ballot.
The League of Women Voters of Ohio and local Leagues across the state, including the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, have been working to reform our broken congressional districting process for more than 30 years. Issue 1 presents our best chance at real reform. Vote yes on Issue 1, to put congressional district reform in the Ohio constitution.
Marcia Goldberg and Susan Murnane are co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland.