How to fix gerrymandering
This is in response to the Jan. 21 column “Ohioans must put gerrymandering to death.” I agree. There is a REAL easy answer here. Simply make county boundaries the new legislative district lines.
There are 88 counties. We could even save money by combining a few of the counties that have smaller populations.
Would some counties lean still? Yes, but that amount would be small and it would be known upfront and not artificially controlled. Medina County may lean GOP while Cuyahoga County may lean Democratic. Campaign there and you know this.
By using county boundaries, we know upfront what a district is, and it will never change. This solution costs zero. No mapmakers, no committees. The boundaries are already there.
If a county leans one way or the other, that will simply be the will of the people living there, not the will of a ruling political party as we have now. After all, it is not a crime for a county to lean; it should be a crime to make it lean in a way it ordinarily wouldn’t in order for a party to keep control.