Dayton Daily News...
Winning map plan in contest tightens Montgomery races
Illinois lawmaker’s legislative makeover is more competitive.
By William Hershey

Thursday, August 25, 2011 

COLUMBUS — Elections in Montgomery County’s five Ohio House districts would be more competitive, with a slight advantage to Democrats, under the winning plan in a redistricting contest announced Wednesday. 

Republicans can relax, however, because the plan is unlikely to be adopted. 

The League of Women Voters of the Ohio Education Fund, Ohio Citizen Action and other groups sponsored the competition in hopes of bringing other voices into the partisan process of redrawing political boundaries. 

Republicans control the Apportionment Board that will actually create new legislative districts based on the 2010 Census – 99 House and 33 Senate districts. 

In the redistricting contest, the winning map created 25 highly competitive House districts, compared to the 10 that exist now. 

“It demonstrates that private citizens can draw fairer maps than were done by the politicians,” said Jim Slagle, manager of the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting. 

Slagle said the winning plan would be submitted to the Apportionment Board. The board holds a public hearing to gather input from citizens on the real map from 10 a.m. to noon today at the “1700” Auditorium (former NCR headquarters) at the University of Dayton, 1700 S. Patterson Blvd. 

Secretary of State Jon Husted, one of four Republican board members, said he hadn’t seen the winning plan, but would be interested in reviewing it. Other Republicans on the board are Gov. John Kasich, Auditor Dave Yost and Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond. 

House Minority Leader Armond Budish of Beachwood is the only Democrat. 

Mike Fortner, a Republican state representative from Illinois, won $1,000 for the winning plan. 

Currently, five Ohio House districts are completely inside Montgomery County boundaries. In Fortner’s plan, four districts would be completely inside the county and a fifth — District 70 — would be in Montgomery and Greene counties.

Here is how the current Montgomery County House districts would change under Fortner’s plan:

• District 36, held by Rep. Mike Henne, R-Huber Heights, would become District 70. The political makeup wouldn’t change much, going from 62.38 percent Republican to 62.87 percent. 

• District 37, held by Rep. Jim Butler, R-Oakwood, would also change little, going from 60.27 percent Republican to 64.95 percent. 

• District 38, held by Rep. Terry Blair, R-Washington Twp., would shift dramatically, going from 63.04 percent Republican to 42.77 percent under Fortner’s plan. 

• District 39, held by Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, would also go from a safe Democratic district to a much more competitive one, changing from 21.04 percent Republican to 44.66 percent. 

• District 40, held by Rep. Roland Winburn, D-Harrison Twp., would go from 31.20 percent Republican to 42.73 percent. 

Read it at the Dayton Daily News