Summit, Stark residents clamor for fair representation at redistricting hearing

Arrye Rosser is a Stow resident living in the 14th U.S. Congressional District, but Cuyahoga Falls, which is primarily in the 13th Congressional District, is only six houses away from her.

She feels much more connected to the Cuyahoga Falls community — it’s where her family spends their daily lives, including grocery shopping, visiting the library and eating at restaurants — than Conneaut in Ashtabula County, which is also in the 14th Congressional District, but more than an hour and a half away.

“In a quarter of a century of living here, I have trouble recalling even ever going to Ashtabula County, other than to pass through on the highway ... And yet I vote with these people and not the people on the other side of Graham Road with me,” she said.

Rosser wants to be part of a congressional district that represents all or most of Summit County.

“There's only one reason in my mind of why Summit County's been divided up, and that's to dilute our voice,” she said. “This is supposed to be a representative democracy, and I just want to be fairly represented.”

Rosser was one of about 50 people who pleaded for fairer legislative districts over nearly four hours during a public hearing of the Ohio Redistricting Commission on Friday at the University of Akron.

Ohioans overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments in 2015 and 2018 that changed the way officials draw district boundaries, and this year marks the first test of those rules. Delays in 2020 U.S. census data because of COVID-19 threatened to block lawmakers from meeting their deadlines, but an appeals court ruled Ohio could ask for those figures as soon as possible.

The Census Bureau released the population data on Aug. 12.

The seven-member commission includes five Republicans and two Democrats: Gov. Mike DeWine; Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Ohio Auditor Keith Faber; Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima; Commission Co-Chair and Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron; Commission Co-Chair and House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima; and House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D-Akron.

But only the father and daughter Sykeses were in attendance Friday; the others were represented by designees. Some speakers criticized the lack of attendance by most of those on the commission, saying they didn't feel they were taking the process seriously. DeWine was criticized for attending a Cincinnati Bengals training camp instead of hearings in Cleveland and Youngstown earlier this week.

How does the redistricting process in Ohio work?

There are two separate processes for drawing lines for congressional districts and statehouse districts (99 House districts and 33 Senate districts).

Ohio is losing one of its 16 congressional seats because its population increased more slowly than other parts of the country.

The first deadline for Ohio lawmakers to pass a 10-year congressional district map is Sept. 30. After that, the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission will have a chance to draw the lines. If each step faces bipartisan gridlock, legislators could approve a four-year map.

For drawing state House and Senate districts, the Ohio Redistricting Commission must approve a district plan by Sept. 1 with the support of four members, including at least two Democrats.

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If that doesn't happen, the commission would introduce a map with a simple majority vote — which doesn't need to be bipartisan — and hold a public hearing on it.

After that hearing and before Sept. 15, the commission would need to adopt a final plan with either a bipartisan vote or simple majority. A bipartisan map would be in effect for 10 years; boundaries approved with a simple majority must be redrawn after four years.

If lawmakers can't agree and must pass a four-year map for congressional districts, the new districts cannot "unduly favor" a political party or its incumbents. Congressional districts also must abide by the federal Voting Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on race.

Both maps must prioritize keeping counties, cities, villages and townships together within one district.

Summit is a hodgepodge of districts

The speakers at UA on Friday represented a wide range of the community.

A North Hill resident and representative of Asian Services in Action (ASIA) Inc. urged the commission to include and engage the fast-growing Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the redistricting process. 

A 15-year-old incoming sophomore at Twinsburg High School reminded the commission that even though she can’t vote yet, she and other members of Gen Z are "paying significantly more attention than policymakers may realize” and that "elections in Ohio have been tainted because elected officials have chosen their voters instead of voters choosing their elected officials,” calling it “corruption of the most sacred aspect of American democracy.”

Many speakers criticized the way Summit and other surrounding counties are divided into multiple districts, sharing stories of being in different districts from their neighbors or from the next street over. Summit includes the 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th congressional districts, the 27th and 28th Ohio Senate districts and the 34th, 35th, 35th, 37th and 38th Ohio house districts.

Rosanne Winter, president of the League of Women Voters of Akron Area, said the community is “striving to thrive amidst a host of difficult to solve circumstances,” including aging infrastructure, addiction, gun violence and pandemic-related educational setbacks for students.

“These issues need attention and support at the highest levels of government,” she said. “The ability to address these needs adequately has been diluted by the current dissection of Summit County into four U.S. congressional districts.”

Akron Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Mosley-Samples questioned how Summit and surrounding counties being divided into multiple districts is fair to its residents.

“Summit County deserves someone who knows the community, someone who has been here putting in the work, someone who is accessible and available to the residents of Summit County," she said.

Stark County is also divided and includes the 7th, 13th and 16th congressional districts.

A representative of the Democratic Party of Stark County presented a map to the commission suggesting all of Stark County become a congressional district with all of Mahoning County and more than 90% of Trumbull County, saying the three counties share common life experiences, economic status and problems.

More bipartisanship, no gerrymandering, speakers say

Speakers said there should be few “safe” districts, and they should be competitive to ensure the best candidates run and are elected. Some also said they believe gerrymandered districts have contributed to the hyper-partisanship and extremism of politics in recent years, with many calling for more bipartisanship.

"I do not want Democrats to gerrymander districts in their favor, nor do I want Republicans doing the same. What I want is a system that is fair and balanced for every person so that instead of about party lines, it's about ideas and discussion and integrity and character,” said Nathan Jarosz, who lives in North Akron.

League of Women Voters of Ohio Board President Iris Meltzer said the nonpartisan league works against partisan gerrymandering by any political party.

"Our democracy is hurt when politicians of any party manipulate voting maps to keep themselves and their party in power. Simply put, partisan gerrymandering takes away voter choice and fuels partisan polarization,” she said. “When incumbents are all but assured of their reelection, they do not need to serve their voters and instead play to party extremes and big donors…We ask you to put democracy above your personal or partisan interests and bring fair legislative maps to the people.”

Some speakers said the gerrymandered districts disenfranchise and disengage voters, who feel there’s no point in voting if the outcome is already a foregone conclusion.

“Young people like my former students are disillusioned and giving up on democracy because our system is rigged," said Kyle Herman of Stow, a former high school teacher. "I'm a poll worker, and I can testify that votes in Ohio are counted accurately. But that doesn't change the fact that our elections are already rigged by partisan districts."

Is Ohio as Republican as it appears?

Although the overwhelming majority of the 50 speakers spoke in favor of fair redistricting, a few speakers said Ohio is a conservative, Republican state, and the current districts reflect that.

Some noted that nearly all of Ohio’s statewide elected positions — governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer — are held by Republicans. The one exception is U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.

“The reality is that Ohio is much more red than it was in 2010. Ohio is now dominated by Republicans, and this needs to be reflected in the redistricting,” one speaker said. “If it isn't, you're telling your constituents that elections are meaningless and our votes don't matter. Caving to the mob isn't the right thing to do.”

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One speaker said if that’s the case, “then why not change the districts?”

“If the majority of voters are Republican, the Republican politicians will keep their power,” she said. “So the only reason to continue with a gerrymandered district is if somebody is afraid that maybe that's not so, and maybe we're going to lose our power if we have evenly split districts and fairly divided districts.”

There were 10 public hearings around the state this week: in Cleveland, Youngstown, Dayton, Cincinnati, Zanesville, Rio Grande, Lima and Toledo, with the last held in Mansfield on Friday afternoon. All were held during the day on weekdays.

Several speakers Friday criticized the lack of evening hours, preventing working people from attending if they couldn’t take off work, or the locations, which were nearly all on college or university campuses, along with the lack of a virtual option during the pandemic and the transparency of the process.

Speakers also criticized the last-minute nature of the process, saying groundwork should’ve started months ago when it was known the census data was going to be delayed by the pandemic.

One speaker said speaking to the commission “feels like screaming into the wind because essentially we are asking those people in power to prioritize democracy over personal gain, over personal power and in some cases over greed.”

“But that is what we're asking. We're asking for every politician in Ohio to dig deep and to ask themselves what is their legacy going to be,” she said. “Is their legacy going to be standing up for democracy, which is a very long-term gain and something to be proud of, or is their legacy going to be the short-term gain of a few more years for their personal power?”

Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.