Neighborhood Ministries

In Ohio, the Democrats are challenging the legislative redistricting map in the courts and the courts have turned down three maps they have drawn. It looks like they won’t accept any map that doesn’t favor them. That is not the way it is done.  The commission redraws the legislative districts to reflect changes in population so the districts are relatively equal. The party in power often draws them to favor themselves somewhat and at times it has gone to extremes but both parties do it when they are in power. The Democrats do it as much as the Republicans. The problem lies in the fact that the maps have to be completed before the ballots have to be printed for the primary elections. Since the maps drawn so far have been rejected, it has exceeded the time needed to prepare for the primary election. The mail-in ballots were printed and sent out by the deadline so they could be returned before the election. The ballots could not include the legislative positions because they don’t know what the district boundaries are going to be. That leaves a question about what to do with the legislative positions. They would have to have them added  to the voting machines at the last minute, which means the mail-in voters couldn’t vote for them or have a second primary election. Both would create a mess. The candidates wouldn’t know where to campaign since they don’t know what area will be in their district. Areas in their district previously may not be in their district when the election occurs. In addition, voters can’t research the candidates because they don’t know what district they will be voting in. It is easy to object to the way something is done but harder to help solve them. It is time to stop creating problems and start helping to solve them.