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ALL THAT NOW ON MATTER OF FACT. EVERY VOTE COUNTS. COUNTS. BUT HOW MUCH? WELL, THAT CAN DEPEND ON YOUR VOTING DISTRICT, WHICH IS WHY GERRYMANDERING HAS BECOME A MAJOR CONCERN FOR VOTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. GERRYMANDERING IS WHEN DISTRICT MAPS ARE REDRAWN IN A WAY THAT BENEFITS ONE POLITICAL PARTY OVER ANOTHER AND OFTEN DILUTES THE VOTING POWER OF RACIAL MINORITIES. THE GROUP COMMON CAUSE RECENTLY RELEASED A REDISTRICTING REPORT CARD FOR THE UNITED STATES. ONLY TWO STATES GOT A’S CALIFORNIA FOR MASSACHUSETTS, 20 EARNED D’S OR F’S FOR FAILING TO BE TRANSPARENT AND NONPARTISAN, AND FOR NOT PROVIDING A FAIR REPRESENTATION TO COMMUNITIES OF COLOR. OHIO IS ONE OF THE STATES THAT GOT AN F. OUR CORRESPONDENT DIANE ROBERTS, TAKES US THERE TO SEE HOW AN ARGUMENT OVER WHO’S DRAWING THE MAPS IS CREATING DIVISIONS BETWEEN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING THERE. IT’S A GOOD WORD. FAIR AND EQUAL JUST DON’T EXIST ANYMORE. THEY WANT THE POWER AND THE POSITION. THAT’S ALL THEY WANT. DISCUSSION OVER POLITICAL POWER IN TOLEDO, OHIO, POPULATION 270,000, APPROXIMATELY 37%. BLACK AND BROWN RESIDENTS ON THE CITY. YEAH. PIERRETTE PETEE TALLEY WAS BORN AND RAISED HERE. A REGISTERED DEMOCRAT LIVING IN A REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED STATE. WE HAVE SUPERMAJORITY IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE, AND THAT IS NOT HOW VOTERS GO AND ACTUALLY VOTE. PETEE WAS SPURRED INTO POLITICAL ACTIVITY IN 2011, WHEN NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAPS WERE DRAWN THAT ENSURED REPUBLICAN VICTORIES IN 12 OF THE STATE’S 16 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. WHEN YOU SEE HOW ODDLY SHAPED THAT DISTRICT IS, IT’S A CYCLE THAT PETEE SAYS HAS ONLY CONTINUED AFTER 2011. WE REALLY GOT INVOLVED TO HELP GET SIGNATURES, TO GET IT ON THE BALLOT TO ADVOCATE FOR MORE FAIR MAPS. IN 2015, AND THEN WE CAME BACK AGAIN AND DID SOMETHING IN 2018. OHIO HAS NOW REDRAWN ITS LEGISLATIVE MAPS AT LEAST SIX TIMES SINCE 2021. PETEE SAYS, ALL TO THE DETRIMENT OF MINORITY GIS, WHOSE VOTING POWER WAS DILUTED BY BEING DISPERSED INTO REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED DISTRICTS. IT LOOKS LIKE BLACK VOTERS IN PARTICULAR SEEM DISPOSABLE. PETEE IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OHIO COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION, PART OF THE BLACK VOTER TABLE. I LIVE IN A DISTRICT THAT WAS IMPACTED BY THOSE MAPS, AND IT IS EGREGIOUS IN MY OPINION, IN TERMS OF WHAT HAPPENED TO BLACK VOTERS, THE CONSTITUTIONAL LANGUAGE SAYS THAT THESE MAPS SHOULD KEEP COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST TOGETHER, SHOULD NOT HAVE SO MANY PARTIZAN SPLITS AS IT RELATES TO COUNTY LINES, OR CITY LINES, OR DISTRICT LINES. THE COALITION WANTS TO GET RID OF THE COMMISSION. CURRENTLY IN CHARGE OF REDRAWING THE MAPS. IN A TWIST, IT’S A COMMISSION PETEE AND THE COALITION HELPED CREATE IT. YOU’RE NOT HAPPY WITH THE COMMISSION? YOU GOT WHY? IT’S NOT THAT WE’RE NOT HAPPY WITH THE COMMISSION. IT’S JUST THAT THE COMMISSION THEY GERRYMANDERED EVEN WORSE THAN IT WAS BEFORE 2011. SO WE THINK A NEW COMMISSION IS WARRANTED. THAT IS NOT POLITICIAN DRIVEN, SHOULD BE DRIVEN BY THE CITIZENS OF OHIO. BUT REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS LIKE JOSH WILLIAMS SAY THE WAY THE COMMISSION IS COMPOSED IS PART OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS. THE CURRENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION DOES REPRESENT THE PEOPLE. THERE’S THREE STATEWIDE OFFICE HOLDERS THAT ARE ON THE COMMISSION THE GOVERNOR, THE AUDITOR AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE. ALL OF THEM HAVE TO RUN STATEWIDE WHERE THE VOTERS SELECT THEM BY MAJORITY VOTE AND THEN, IN ADDITION, YOU HAVE REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE. GIVEN THAT SELECTION PROCESS, THE CURRENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION HAS A MAKEUP OF FIVE REPUBLICANS AND JUST TWO DEMOCRATS. DEMOCRATS WOULD HAVE TO WIN A LOT OF ELECTIONS IN ORDER TO, YOU KNOW, HAVE A MORE BALANCED REDISTRICTING COMMISSION. SAM NELSON IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO. IT INCLUDES THREE STATEWIDE ELECTED OFFICES, AND THOSE HAVE BEEN GOING TO REPUBLICANS CONSISTENTLY IN THE STATE AND THEN IT GUARANTEES TWO FROM THE MINORITY PARTY AND TWO FROM THE MAJORITY PARTY. THAT MAKES IT VERY, VERY DIFFICULT TO ACTUALLY GET THE KIND OF LESS PARTIZAN OR OR MORE FAIR MAPS THAT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS WERE DESIGNED TO CREATE, BUT A REALITY THAT PETEE IS WORRIED IS CAUSING PEOPLE IN HER COMMUNITY TO LOSE TRUST IN THE POWER OF THEIR VOTE. I THINK THEY SPLIT IT BECAUSE THEY KNOW THESE VOTERS ARE LESS LIKELY TO COME AND VOTE, AND IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT DISTRICT THAT THEY’RE IN. BUT TO PETEE, IT DOES MATTER HERE IN TOLEDO, OH