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Ohio Holds Its Tenth Public Redistricting Hearing

 Katy Shanahan speaking at the Ohio Redistricting Commission meeting in Zanesville.
Kristin Stratman
/
WYSO
Katy Shanahan speaking at the Ohio Redistricting Commission meeting in Zanesville.

On Wednesday morning, the Ohio Redistricting Commission held another of its ten public hearings, this time in Zanesville. The commission is traveling the state to get community input on the redrawing of political district maps.

Katy Shanahan is the Ohio State Director for All On the Line, a nonprofit organization working on political redistricting. At the hearing, Shanahan said that the district maps drawn in the past have angered her.

“Ohioans have been denied real political representation because of our gerrymandered districts," said Shanahan, "Our districts were drawn behind closed doors in 2011 to gerrymander Ohio’s Republicans into supermajorities and seats that they are not winning in votes at the ballot box.”

Louann Schrader volunteered as a poll worker for the 2021 special election. At today’s hearing she said about half of the people who showed up to vote weren’t eligible because they actually came from a different district.

“That’s just too confusing, that is just not fair for people who want to vote for their own representatives to represent their neighborhoods," said Schrader, "And it’s not fair to divide neighborhoods up like that.”

The commission will try to pass a new legislative district map in September.