Ohio Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, right, spoke about efforts to change how Ohio determines its political district boundaries during a lunch and learn event Thursday at Milano Cafe.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — Ohio voters thought the issue of gerrymandering, in which the determination of political district boundaries would favor one political party over another, was settled in a 2015 referendum that created the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a body that would provide for a more bipartisan approach to district mapping.
However, in the wake of controversial redistricting results that led to multiple court cases in 2022 and 2023, the issue may come back to Ohio voters this November.
On Thursday, the Allen County Democratic Party hosted a “Lunch and Learn” event at the Milano Cafe featuring Ohio Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo, speaking to several dozen attendees about this issue. Having served on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which includes Ohio’s governor, auditor and secretary of state, with the remaining four individuals selected by the Senate President, the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leaders for the House and Senate, Hicks-Hudson spoke from firsthand experience regarding the previous work of the commission, saying the result created an environment where primary election winners had an easy path to winning their seat.
“It’s like putting your thumb on the scale, and in doing that, voices of the citizens are not heard the way I think they should be heard,” she said. “There is such a disconnect between a government that you elected and what the people have sent you to wherever, Columbus or Washington, to take care of.”
A petition submitted at the beginning of July to put a constitutional amendment measure on the November ballot included 700,000 signatures, according to the Associated Press. Those signatures are still in the process of being validated. If that happens, the measure could go on the November ballot to change the current commission’s setup to feature “an independent body selected directly by citizens” with the members “diversified by party affiliation and geography,” according to the Associated Press.
For Hicks-Hudson, the issue is about creating a map that is contiguous in keeping “like communities together,” she said, with each district representing a similar number of constituents.
“When you talk about a like community, taking (Ohio Senate) District 2 (as an example), you have hardcore urban (in Toledo), and you also have hardcore rural because that district goes south past Wood County and east into Ottawa (County),” she said. “So you’ve got really disparate communities. So how do you as a representative juggle that, if you have an issue that some portion of your district cares about and other members don’t care about?”
Allen County Democratic Party chair Rochelle Twining was pleased with the turnout, saying it was larger than expected, as well as the interaction between attendees and the senator. For her, the larger turnout is part of what she sees as an “awakening” among voters in the area as they become more actively involved in the political process.
“There were some good questions from the audience,” she said. “I think people left feeling very positive today.”
