Gerrymandering is everywhere. The debate on how we fix it. (Ohio Edition)

Gerrymandering comes from the infant stages of the United States of America, back when we first were deciding how to do everything, and literally everything anyone did set a precedent. Gerrymandering's general definition is the drawing of legislative districts to disproportionately harm or benefit one side in a matter or another. One of the biggest elements of gerrymandering seen in modern day America is that of partisan gerrymandering, which means to draw districts based upon what setup will give our preferred party the most seats. Not to discredit the other form of gerrymandering that is still heavily prevalent: racial gerrymandering. Racial gerrymandering was outlawed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but even so, states draw racially gerrymandered districts all the time. You typically see most of these in Southern states where the government draws districts that typically dilute the voting power of African-Americans. Gerrymandering comes in many forms, such as splitting a city into two or more districts paired with more rural or conservative leaning areas to dilute the power of the urbanites, or doing the opposite when putting rural or conservative leaning areas with urban areas. This, of course, is just one form of gerrymandering practices.

The word gerrymandering itself is a combination of Gerry and salamander. While this might seem strange, and, well, it certainly is, there is a story behind it. A long while ago, in the beginnings of American government, the man in charge of drawing the districts for Massachusetts drew a district that lead to many within it to be upset with its shape: it had been shaped like a salamander. It was designed to dilute the power of the Federalists, which at the time, were the main opposition to the Democratic-Republicans. That's where we get -mandering, but what about Gerry? Gerry was the surname of the man who drew the district.

With the history and types of gerrymandering out of the way, it's time to address the elephant in the room: who does gerrymandering? Republicans or Democrats? The answer is simple: both. Both practice most forms of gerrymandering, with both practicing extremely heinous partisan gerrymandering, and republicans typically practicing more racial gerrymandering than democrats. This dynamic mostly stems from the fact that most non-white Americans vote for the democrats, at least the majority do.

Gerrymandering is practiced in every state, in one shape or form, but it may be less heinous in the states that had the right to vote on the issue and stripped the power of redistricting from the legislature. Michigan, as an example, ended the legislature's power to draw districts in 2018 by referendum, and as a result, the winner of the popular vote won the state house of representatives, which was not the case in some of those elections during the 2010s. Michigan gave the right to redistrict to the people themselves, who are chosen from a non-partisan pool of eligible participants. This same proposal was on the ballot last year in Ohio, and it failed largely along the same lines as the republican victory in the state. Issue 1 failed 53 percent to 46 percent (roughly).

This defeat ended the chances for fair redistricting in the state. Ohio is a fast trending republican leaning state that has a two thirds majority in the state house and state senate. Ohio's legislative maps for the 2022 and 2024 election had been struck down nearly five to six times by the state's supreme court for being unlawful gerrymanders, yet, they approved the last map that still stuck a state that typically votes 55 percent to 44 percent in favor of republicans with a legislature that is nearly 66 percent to 34 percent in favor of the republicans. The republicans may dominate state elections in the sense of winning a majority, but republican support has not reached the two-thirds (three-fifths) necessary amount to have this kind of power. The same can be said for many states across the country, which is why redistricting battles will be so important to watch for the next two years. Ohio's maps are already being redrawn for the sixth or seventh time since 2022 for the 2026 elections, due to a provision in the state constitution.

One thing's for sure: the battle for fair districts will continue, even if Issue 1 was defeated. Despite one's political affiliation, it is insane to give someone more power than they earned: if you get 55 percent of the vote, you should get 55 percent of the seats. That is how our system should work, not the other way around.