Common Cause Ohio and the League of Women Voters of Ohio released a report detailing how the state legislature drew legislative maps to predetermine which party’s candidate won each district. An analysis of the unofficial 2014 vote totals demonstrated that the percentage of Republican and Democratic voters in Ohio congressional and General Assembly districts could be used to predict almost perfectly the winner in each district. The report found that:

• Partisan percentages (known as partisan indexes) of Ohio Senate districts and U.S. House districts perfectly predicted the winners, based on political party.
• Partisan leaning also predicted the results of 96 out of 99 Ohio House races.
• Four Ohio Senate winners (23%), 14 Ohio House winners (14%), and one U.S. Congressman, Bob Gibbs, faced no opponent in the general election.  

Opportunity Ohio, a conservative organization, and ProgressOhio, a progressive organization, responded to the report by issuing a joint statement calling on the legislature to reform the redistricting process in the state. Listen to Common Cause Ohio’s Catherine Turcer discuss the report on Ohio Public Radio.