Skip to main content
State Seal State Seal State Seal
Home Button Home Button Home Button
 
 

Reps. Clyde and Curtin seek to bring congressional redistricting reform before the OCMC

March 12, 2015
Democratic Newsroom

State Representatives Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) and Mike Curtin (D-Marble Cliff) are seeking to present their congressional redistricting reform proposal, HJR 2, to members of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. Yesterday, they sent the following letter to the Chairman and Vice Chairwoman of the Legislative and Executive Branch Committee:

Dear Chairman Mills and Vice Chairwoman Brooks,

We write seeking to come before the Legislative and Executive Branch Committee to present HJR 2, a congressional redistricting proposal we recently introduced that closely mirrors HJR 12, the state legislative proposal that passed with huge bipartisan support last General Assembly. In the coming months, we would like to see approval of this proposal by your committee and the full Constitutional Modernization Commission.

The work done by your committee to advance a state legislative redistricting reform proposal during the last General Assembly was key to the ultimate passage of HJR 12 which will appear before voters this fall. But even if the state reform proposal is approved, Ohio will still be left with a broken system of drawing congressional districts. As you know, the legislature removed congressional redistricting from the reform proposal it passed in December with the promise of considering it this year instead. We ask that your committee add its wisdom and expertise to the discussion of this important matter.

Gerrymandering of the state legislative and congressional districts makes our lawmaking bodies less responsive to the will of the public and less representative of Ohioans’ preferences in how we govern ourselves. No issue is more important to the health of our democracy than fair redistricting at both the state and congressional level.

Thank you for the contribution that your committee has made to the work of Ohio redistricting reform so far. We look forward to continuing that work by presenting HJR 2 to the Legislative and Executive Branch Committee soon.

Respectfully,

Kathleen Clyde
State Representative

Mike Curtin
State Representative