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Voters to decide who gets power to create district« Thread S

Daily newsbrief journal for October 2005, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Voters to decide who gets power to create district« Thread S

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:31 pm

Voters to decide who gets power to create district« Thread Started on Oct 31, 2005, 2:56am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Voters to decide who gets power to create districtsMonday, October 31, 2005By JOHN McCARTHY Associated Press Writerread source: http://www.indeonline.com/left.php?ID=4 ... =1COLUMBUS – Voters will be asked Nov. 8 to do what the Legislature has rejected for at least three decades – strip elected officials of the power to draw legislative and congressional district lines.One of four election-related issues on the ballot would give that highly prized authority to a bipartisan board. The other issues would allow any voter to vote by absentee ballot, lower the caps on campaign contributions and replace the secretary of state as the overseer of elections in Ohio.The power to create districts is the most contentious issue. The party that draws the lines – now the Republicans – can shape public policy for decades by forging districts to include voters favorable to its candidates. The state lottery and income tax were produced with Democrats in control; Republicans’ watch brought income tax refunds and restrictions on abortion.Democrats say the shift in authority would ensure more competitive districts. Republicans say it would create oddly shaped districts that pay little attention to common interests of constituents.“If they (current districts) are so bad, how come the courts declare them constitutional?” asked former Senate President Richard Finan, co-chairman of Ohio First, which opposes all four issues. “Competitiveness is not the bellwether of drawing districts in the state of Ohio or any other state and the U.S. Supreme Court has said that many times.”Proposals to drop elected officials as mapmakers have been around since the 1970s but failed regularly in the Legislature. Leadership of the ruling party always spiked such bills to retain power.The last time the question appeared on a ballot, in 1981, the party roles were reversed. Democrats controlled state government and opposed the change.Republicans have been in control since 1994. Issue supporters are banking on voter frustration with a $300 million investment scandal in the state’s injured workers’ insurance program and an ethics scandal that led to the conviction of Republican Gov. Bob Taft.A similar issue will be decided Nov. 8 in California. A proposal backed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would shift redistricting power from the Democratic-controlled Legislature to a board of retired judges appointed by legislative leaders.Ohio’s redistricting proposal would try to make congressional and legislative elections more competitive, said former state Rep. Ed Jerse, the campaign director for Reform Ohio Now, which proposed the four election issues. The goal would be to draw as many districts as possible where the difference between the number of Democrats and Republicans is within 5 percentage points.In last year’s election, only four Ohio House districts among 133 legislative and congressional races produced contests where the margins of victory were less than 5 percentage points.Anyone would be able to submit a district map to the board.Voters also will decide whether to put a board in charge of elections, instead of the secretary of state, an elected position.Opponents say the proposal would take power away from a duly elected official and give it to a board that is accountable to no one.Jerse said a bipartisan board is preferable to a partisan secretary of state, no matter what party is in charge of the office. Secretaries of state from both parties have been criticized over the years for political activity.“This whole idea about keeping the politicians accountable is laughable,” Jerse said.Backers say voting by mail would ease the long lines at many polling places in the 2004 presidential election, when Ohio gave President Bush the electoral votes needed for victory. Opponents say there is a danger of fraud, because voters would not have to produce identification to obtain a ballot.The campaign contributions proposal would lower the caps from $10,000 to $2,000 for a statewide candidate and $1,000 for a legislative candidate.Reform Ohio Now says it is a way to take big money out of campaigns. Ohio First says loopholes, especially for small-donor political action committees that allow $10,000 contributions to political parties, would give unions an unfair advantage.
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