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The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
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Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted
Legislative
redistricting reform proposal
COLUMBUS – Regarding movement on a bipartisan legislative redistricting
reform proposal in the Ohio House of Representatives, all of the
following may be attributed to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted:
“The latest proposal in the Ohio House of Representatives provides us
with new hope that a bipartisan redistricting reform plan can be
accomplished before year’s end.
“There is however, one component I believe must be amended to build the
necessary public trust in this proposal.
“As currently drafted, a simple majority of four votes is required to
pass a bipartisan redistricting plan. With a commission that includes
four legislative appointees, this proposal would grant the legislature
a new and exclusive constitutional right to draw their own maps without
any outside check and balance on this power.
“The good news is that it may be easily remedied either through
requiring a five-member super majority vote to pass a map, or by
requiring that one of the four votes come from one of the statewide
elected officials represented on the commission.
“I am confident that it was not the intention of the proposal to create
a scenario where the legislature would have the exclusive power to draw
its own maps, so I am hopeful this will be an easy fix.”
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