Thread by @allontheline_oh

🗣️ HAPPENING SOON

Our second of just 3 public input hearings on the Commission's proposed GOP map.

Tune in here for live tweet updates or on the Ohio Channel for the live stream here: ohiochannel.org/live/special-e…

All 7 members of the commission are in attendance today for this hearing - marking just the 4th time that's happened in nearly 15 hearings of the commission.

Sen. Sykes mentions there are more than 50 people signed up to testify today!

As we've always known, Ohioans are fired up and ready for #FairMaps - can't wait to hear from all of you.

Up first is Gerald who urges the Commission to work together to pass #FairMaps that are representative of our state.

Up now is Debbie (an @allontheline_oh vol!) testifying about how the GOP-proposed maps are problematic for two major reasons:

1. They're not #FairMaps because they don't reflect how we vote

2. They don't give BIPOC communities real representation

Those are big red flags!

Up next is Barbara, a former attorney, who claims that the Commissioners have violated their oaths to uphold the US and Ohio Constitution because of the GOP maps which, according to Barbara, fail to live up to the requirements in law for #FairMaps

Up next is Ralph who raises serious concerns he has with the GOP-proposed maps because they are not a good representation of how Ohio votes or of our communities.

We need #FairMaps!

Ralph points out that the GOP only unveiled their maps just 6 days before our final deadline and that these hearings come just 3 days before that deadline.

Hard to tell how much reasonable time the Commission will spend taking our input into consideration given the timeline...

Up now is Chris Glassburn who is testifying largely on behalf of the Senate Democrats, who hired him to help them through the map-drawing process.

He will discuss the Dems' new maps.

New Dem House: bit.ly/3Adbnun

New Dem Senate: bit.ly/3hq4luU

These are maps that are being introduced jointly by Sen. Sykes and Leader Sykes as a response to the GOP-proposed maps.

Chris says there are 42 likely Dem House seats and 13 likely Dem Senate seats - lower than the originally-introduced plan from the Senate Dems

Chris says these new maps incorporate public input that Dems have heard from the hearings and separate meetings.

Chris also adds that these new Dem maps improve how often the GOP maps split apart Ohio's communities.

An audience member asked where you can find the maps publicly, so re-sharing those links below:

New Dem House: bit.ly/3Adbnun

New Dem Senate: bit.ly/3hq4luU

Leader Sykes reiterates that the Dems also want a 10-year bipartisan map and welcomes any public (or Commission) feedback on the maps.

Auditor Faber asks Chris if he's suggesting the other proposed maps (namely, one by the Fair Districts coalition's contest winner) is unconstitutional.

Chris, who isn't an attorney, won't define maps as unconstitutional, but does raise concerns about a map that splits cities.

Auditor Faber essentially asking if it's possible to draw #FairMaps because of where we live - we'll try to help:

Every *district* doesn't need to be 55R - 45D if that wouldn't reflect who lives there. The statewide seat count needs to reflect how we vote. THAT is possible.

It is not only possible, but it is important for us to get #FairMaps that actually reflect how we vote. That means 44 Dem House seats and 15 Dem Senate seats.

Want to see a map that does that? Check out the one proposed by the Ohio Citizens' Redistricting Comm'n (@OHRedistrict)

Sec. LaRose says he doesn't appreciate people's (our own included) condemnation about how little transparency we've gotten in this process.

Our process and Commission-proposed maps to date have failed to live up to the demands of our reforms. That's a problem.

An audience member is asking the Commission to vote on the amendment - the Dems' proposed map - but it goes nowhere.

Next witness is summoned up to speak.

Next up is Brian who is talking about the need for representational fairness in our maps.

For us, that means 44 Dem House seats and 15 Dem Senate seats to reflect the 54% R support and 46% D support across the last decade.

Up next is Mark who is lifting up the work of the Ohio Citizens' Redistricting Commission (@OHRedistrict) which not only held a transparent process, but also produced maps an a report to explain them before the 9/1 deadline.

If volunteers could do it, why can't our Commission?

Up now is Tom who rightfully points out that the GOP-proposed map (now the official map of the Commission under consideration) is even more gerrymandered than our current map is.

That isn't what we demanded in our reform measures to get #FairMaps that reflect how we vote.

Up now is Barbara who says that the GOP maps crack and pack our communities to undermine our political power - not what we demanded in our reforms.

Up now is Caitlin Johnson w @PolicyMattersOH who talks about how the maps drawn this year will impact what policies are passed for the next 10 yrs.

All Ohioans - no matter who we are or where we live - deserve to live under #FairMaps that reflect our communities and how we vote

Caitlin also lifts up that anyone who knows anything about Cuyahoga County knows exactly what's happening when maps drawn like the GOP maps - east to west and cracking apart BIPOC communities.

We need maps that give BIPOC communities real representation. The GOP maps aren't it!

Sorry for that interruption - lots of things moving on the ground, BUT we know that while we've been away Ohioans have continued to raise issues with the proposed maps that crack and pack BIPOC communities, carve apart similar neighborhoods, and don't reflect our partisan makeup.

Importantly, we've heard from the last few witnesses how problematic it is that the audiences doesn't reflect the diversity of our communities.

That's true - when we hold hearings mostly during working hours, in person, and on weekdays, they're inaccessible to too many Ohioans.

We’re back in Cleveland! We’re currently from Katie Paris from our partner at @RedWineBlueUSA.

Katie notes that the number one reason people don’t vote is because they don’t feel like their vote matters.

Because of gerrymandering.

Unfair maps dilute the voices of voters.

@RedWineBlueUSA Next up is Jacqueline Peck, a retired profess from the University of Akron. She is concerned that the GOP proposed maps do not accurately reflect the true partisan makeup of Ohio.

Our new maps MUST be representative of Ohio's voters.

Peter, from Bay Village is up now! He is a retired mathematics and statistics high school teacher.

He is here to offer analysis on the GOP map and argues that these maps should not be adopted.

Peter's community, in West Shore, has been split into three House districts.

We have been fighting for communities to be kept whole since 2019.

The Commissioners must vote NO on the GOP proposed map.

Call the Commissioners NOW and tell them to vote NO on the GOP proposed map: act.redistrictingaction.org/a/ohio-propose…

Daniel Sweeney, a physician from Ohio, is asking that the Commission members wear their masks.

Ohio had over 9,000 new cases today. Unfair maps lead to extremist anti-vax policies at the peak of the pandemic.

#FairMaps will save lives.

Robin Turner of the @OHorganizing is at the podium now.

She is a mother and a proud citizen of Cleveland. She is concerned about the rise of violence in her community, especially gun violence.

Gerrymandered maps enshrine extremist legislators who do not represent Ohio.

Robin is asking the Commission to put party interests aside so that Ohioans have a chance to make Ohio better.

Ohio needs real representation, this means that we need a map that represents Ohio's voters.

Ohioans vote 45% Democrat and 55% Republican.

All On The Line activist, Sue Van Dyke, is reading a testimony on behalf of her friend who cannot testify today due to COVID concerns.

She notes that Medina County is split with western Medina County pulled into rural counties that do not have similar political interests.

Our communities, especially smaller counties like Medina, should not be split into three districts.

In 2015 + 2018 Ohioans came together to pass reform measures that would keep communities together.

We need the Commission to follow the letter and spirit of the reform measures.

The GOP maps and the process thus far do not live up to those constitutional promises.

Tessa Xuan of @teamOPAWL is up now.

She notes that GOP maps gerrymandered Ohio City, a historic minority community in Cleveland.

The GOP map splits a major street in Ohio City in half, a direct cracking of an important community.

This is gerrymandering.

Tessa is also giving powerful testimony about the impacts of COVID-19 on Asian-American communities. Asian-American communities across Ohioans continue to experience xenophobic attacks with no response from the gerrymandered extremist legislator.

Tessa notes that the Asia Town, a working class neighborhood, community is split into District 13 with the wealthy suburb of Rocky River.

Thank you, Tessa for this powerful testimony.

Rep. Juanita Rep of HD-13 is testifying now. She is reading comments from her constituents could not be here today due to the lack of virtual testimony options.

She notes that Cleveland Ward 5 is the poorest neighborhood in Ohio and is now drawn in with a wealthy Cleveland suburb.

This is a diluation of political power and a partisan gerrymander.

It’s becoming INCREASINGLY obvious that the GOP maps cannot stand and are not fair.

Jaladah Aslam, a community activist is up now.

Jaladah is noting that that the minority-majority city of Youngstown is being pulled into Carroll County, a rural white district in the proposed GOP Senate map.

Jaladah is also noting that she works with frequently with young people who express frustration because they understand that the maps have been rigged to dilute their political power.

Gerrymandering is voter suppression and this process needs to right the course of democracy.

Kelly is up now. She is a resident of HD-06.

She is her to discuss the splitting of Orange School Districts and the splitting of the city of Solon.

Under the proposed maps, you would travel through two different districts SIX times while traveling six miles on one road.

Laura, a resident of Lorain County, is noting that Lorain City and Elyria in the same district is the text book definition of packing two democratic strongholds into one district.

Lorain County should have two competitive districts. Under the GOP proposed map, they have zero.

Laura is saying what we have BEEN saying for the last 18 months.

Ohio is not a red state, it is a RIGGED state. We deserve fair maps, a fair process, and a fair Ohio General Assembly.

Here's what has been made clear during these redistricting hearings, Ohioans are done with the scandals that have plagued the state over the last decade. These scandals are the result of unfair maps and an extremist gerrymandered legislator. We need Fair Maps.

Virginia Weiss is presenting on behalf of Pam Mascio, an AOTL volunteer.

Pam was not able to be here tonight due to the late scheduling of these hearings.

A fair and transparent process would have included more hearings that would have been scheduled with plenty of notice.

We have about 35 more pieces of testimonies to-go, friends! Ohioans are FIRED UP for #FairMaps.

Dolores Grey is up now. She says that Ohioans sent a CLEAR message to our map-drawers. Ohioans demand that our new maps give voice to their communities.

The GOP maps do not do so. Tell the Commission to vote no here: act.redistrictingaction.org/a/ohio-propose…

As Janice, a witness from Hiram is noting, unfair maps impact every issue that is important to Ohioans. Whatever issue brings you to the political table, it is negatively impacted by gerrymandering.

Up now is Crystal who is giving a powerfully emotional testimony about how the gerrymandered legislature's choices impact every aspect of our lives - from our schools, to our health care, to our bodily autonomy and rights.

We need #FairMaps.

Up now: Carolyn who's served as a poll worker (essential democracy worker!) who said she'd have come w more people if we'd gotten more notice about this hearing and if it were accessible and safe for all of us. She says the Commission should draw #FairMaps that meet our demands.

Both Crystal and Carolyn who have broken down in tears talking about how their children don't feel safe or welcome in Ohio because of our gerrymandered legislature who passes policies that harm our communities.

Really powerful testimony tonight.

Up now is Mimi who urges the Commission to look at the winners of the Fair Districts coalition's map-drawing competition - all of which she says are more fair than the ones proposed by the GOP.

Up now is Angela who's talking about similar communities who live in some of the Heights neighborhoods around Cleveland who are currently cracked apart from each other under our maps, but would remain so under proposed maps.

We need similar communities kept together!

Angela also talking about how hard it is to advocate to young people to believe in our democracy and trust in our political system when our maps are rigged against us and only to serve certain politicians and their special interests.

We need #FairMaps that serve us.

Up now is Loh who's bringing up how too many communities in Ohio are not treated fairly by gerrymandered legislators passing laws that negatively impact our communities.

We deserve a say in who represents us. We deserve #FairMaps.

Up now is Pastor Eugene Ward who says the GOP proposed maps makes people distrust government any more because it "looks like pure gerrymandering if I've ever seen it before."

He particularly lifts up how the maps crack and pack Black communities to dilute their political power.

Pastor Ward asks the Commission to "Bring our communities together, bring our issues together, bring our programs together, and - importantly - bring our people together."

Bring us together under #FairMaps

Up now is Justin who came to our testimony workshop training just yesterday - great to see him tonight!

Justin rightfully points out that across the last decade, we've voted 54% Republican - 46% Democratic, but our gerrymandered legislature doesn't reflect that.

Justin says the GOP has delayed this process to deny us real opportunities to engage and to give feedback on proposed maps.

Our public input hearings started just 3 days before the final deadline on Wednesday. That's not enough time!

Up now is Michael who suggests the GOP proposed maps "turbocharge" gerrymandering since they're even more skewed to benefit Republicans than our current ones do.

😵‍💫

Sen. Sykes interjects before the next witness to thank people for having come out tonight, saying that - at the end of the day - our legislators are here to serve us.

Up now is a witness who's driven an hour to come to testify for #FairMaps, for her kids who will be eligible to vote in the next decade, and for "real choices."

We're so thankful for all of you who have given so much of your time and energy to join us in this fight!

Up now is Sue (an @allontheline_oh volunteer!) who mentions there were THREE overflow rooms at the hearing site tonight!

Ohioans are FIRED UP and READY for #FairMaps! So glad to see you all out here fighting for what we deserve.

Sue talks about how Ohio isn't a welcome place for too many of our youth - many of who grow up to move away, seeking states with more representative legislatures who pass policies that reflect our values.

Sue with the poignant reminder that our first congressional deadline in just 1️⃣7⃣ days and we

❌ Don’t know which leg committee will run the process

❌ Don’t have proposed maps

❌ Don’t have any hearings scheduled

Auditor Faber now claiming that the Commissioners *themselves* haven't been meeting to talk about redistricting because doing so privately would violate the sunshine laws. Their staff have been meeting.

To which we say...then bring your meetings public and bring us in?

Sue rightfully saying that we don't need to settle on our maps. We need to fight for #FairMaps!

That means 44 Dem House seats, 15 Dem Senate seats, communities kept together, and BIPOC communities given real representation.

Up now is Kristi who initially came to listen, but after hearing from so many other Ohioans, she decided to testify.

She says that the Commission hasn't done enough to meet our demands for a #FairMaps or to host a fair process to hear from us.

Kristi asks, "Do you think anything substantive will happen" now that we have just 1.5 days before our deadline?

This is why we started asking for the Commission to convene hearings back in February - we needed the time to give input on draft maps.

"This was your map? This is what you came up with? This is what you thought was your starting point and that you'd go from here? That's embarrassing."

Kristi giving really powerful testimony about how this process and these maps fail to meet our demands.

Up now is @EmilyBacha from @OhioEnviro - a partner org of ours and member of the @EqualDistricts coalition!

She's testifying against the GOP map (unfair, gerrymandered), but for the OCRC (@OHRedistrict) maps (fair, representative).

Emily is talking about how environmental issues have been impacted by our gerrymandered maps - spoiler: though we overwhelmingly support taking action on climate change and investing in renewable energy, our gerrymandered #OHLeg doesn't.

With #FairMaps we can elect green leaders

Up next is Ohio Rep. Stephanie Howse who says that her entire district is broken up in the GOP-proposed map. While she understands that districts need to change to reflect populations shifts, the proposed maps carve apart similar neighborhoods and communities of color.

Rep. Howse raises the issue of bridging together communities on the east and on the west of Cuyahoga County because doing so pairs dissimilar communities and undermines certain communities in being able to elect representatives of their choice.

Rep. Howse remarks on how the GOP has cracked apart her district (one that is 65% Black) but how other districts (with primarily white populations) were kept together.

We need #FairMaps that give all of Ohio's communities - but especially those of color - real representation.

Sec. LaRose asking Rep. Howse about how best to avoid packing too many Black voters particularly into as few districts as possible.

This is a great question, with a simple answer: it's actually possible (and easy!) to pair similar communities without unnecessarily packing them!

Auditor Faber suggesting it's hard to keep communities together and to not get accused of having packed voters into a few districts, so again we'll say that it's possible (and necessary) to draw districts that do keep communities together but that don't unnecessarily pack them.

Of course some districts will have high indexes if that's reflective of who lives there. What isn't okay, though, is unnecessarily packing voters into as few districts as possible - which is what occurs under the GOP-proposed map.

Up now is Greg Moore - one of our partners and an @OHRedistrict Co-Chair!

Greg starts by giving praise to @CatherineTurcer who is a fierce advocate for #FairMaps and who has worked to get them for years.

Greg says that the reality is that we've seen this before - where gerrymandered maps are proposed and passed. But he hopes the public input that's been given to these maps is heard by the Commission to make their proposed maps better and more fair.

Up next is Rev. Seth Bridger - the last speaker of the night! - who notes that he's here for the folks who weren't able to come tonight because of other obligations or because they didn't feel safe to show up in person.

Our process needs to be accessible to all of us.

Rev. Bridger says, "I know the state of Ohio and this [the GOP map] is not the state of Ohio. Listen to us!"

"Listen and then act - please."

We're here fighting for #FairMaps. We demanded it in our reforms, our Constitution requires it. We need #FairMaps.

One final witness - Elliot - who says that #FairMaps are the bedrock to representativeness and democracy.

Having maps where we the voters can hold our elected officials accountable are key!

Just kidding - one really final witness, former House Rep. John Patterson, who talks about two kids who were sitting in the room for hours hearing from people about #FairMaps - "think about who will be in this room 50 years from now" and about how the issues impact them.

After more than 6 hours of testimony, the Cleveland-area hearing is done for the night.

We have just ONE MORE HEARING to give our input on the Commission's official map.

Join us tomorrow at the Statehouse to demand #FairMaps ➡️ mobilize.us/allonthelineoh…

Ohioans have made VERY clear that we want #FairMaps. What the GOP proposed and the Commission adopted along party lines is not that.

Join us in calling on Commissioners to vote NO on the proposed map - it cannot stand ➡️ bit.ly/2XmQtuD