Gerrymandering/Redistricting

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, which helped lead the Issue 1 effort, said "even one more election using gerrymandered districts is too many." "This litigation may give Ohioans the fair districts they deserve in 2020 and may strengthen the protections of Issue 1 in the next redistricting cycle," she said.

On Tuesday, May 22nd the Senate State Government Committee took a small step in the right direction toward fixing our broken redistricting process, but there is much more work to be done. Committee Chairs Mike Folmer, Anthony Williams and their colleagues responded to the outcry of Senator Lisa Boscola, concerned citizens, and reformers to fix the dysfunctional way Pennsylvania handles the drawing of congressional and legislative districts.

Tonight, Ohio voters approved a historic state constitutional amendment that will institute strong protections against partisan political gerrymandering in congressional redistricting. After democracy advocates collected over 200,000 signatures to place a redistricting initiative on the 2018 ballot, the Ohio General Assembly voted to place Issue 1 on the May ballot with a strong bipartisan vote. Today Ohioans voted to ratify the measure.

Hidden donors with apparent connections to corporate interests and Republican activists appear to be funding efforts to block a nonpartisan, anti-gerrymandering initiative.

Today, Common Cause filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to uphold a landmark ruling striking down partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina.

As 2018 congressional races heat up, Common Cause is once again tracking the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy. Members of the House and Senate have received letters asking them to co-sponsor and support more than a dozen democracy reform bills and informing them that their co-sponsorship record will be published to our 1.1 million members during the lead-up to Election Day in Common Cause’s “Democracy Scorecard.”