‘It’s frustrating because we’re split in half.’ Ohio counties cut into 2 congressional districts

The Republican majority members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission in 2021 and 2022. Top row from left, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Bottom row from left Ohio Auditor Keith Faber, House Speaker Bob Cupp, and Senate President Matt Huffman. Official photos.

Tuscarawas County is a county divided.

The northeastern Ohio county is split into two congressional districts — the 6th district and the 12th district.

“It’s frustrating because we’re split in half,” said Tuscarawas Democratic Party Chair Gail Garbrandt. “People don’t know what part of the county’s in six and what part of it’s in 12. Why can’t we all be in one congressional district?”

Tuscarawas County is not the only Ohio county that is in multiple congressional districts.

Franklin, Hamilton, and Cuyahoga counties are all in two different congressional districts, but Ohio’s three biggest cities — Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland — are in those counties, respectively.

“There are certain places like Columbus that are too big to fit into a congressional district,” said University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor David Niven. “ You have to split them.”

Clark, Delaware, Holmes, Stark, Miami, Fayette, Wood and Wyandot counties are also all split into two different congressional districts.

Who represents 6 and 12?

Republican Michael Rulli serves the 6th congressional district, which stretches from Mahoning County all the way down to Washington County. Rulli was elected to Congress through a special election last month .

Republican Troy Balderson represents the 12th congressional district which includes Guernsey, Muskingum, Coshocton, Morgan, Athens, Perry, Fairfield, Licking, Knox and portions of Delaware, Holmes and Tuscarawas County. Balderson has served the 12th district since 2018.

Garbrandt imagines it would be challenging having to share representation of a county with another congressmember.

“There’s so many other dynamics that come into play,” she said. “What if you don’t really have an affinity for the other person in the other district and you don’t communicate?”

Rulli and Balderson’s offices did not respond to the Capital Journal’s request for a comment.

Causing confusion

When congressional maps are drawn that split counties into two districts it can cause confusion, Niven said.

“It’s very natural for people to assume that we’re all in the same districts together,” he said.

Garbrandt said she experiences this at her board of elections job and said they had to turn away early voters from the 12th district who came to the Tuscarawas Board of Election office wishing to cast their ballot in the recent 6th congressional district special election.

On the flip side, some people choose to stay home and not vote since they don’t want to be embarrassed by getting their district wrong.

“That’s the scary part,” Garbrandt said.

In an effort to try to cut down on the confusion, she tries to encourage Tuscarawas County voters to get absentee ballots.

The Tuscarawas County Republicans declined to speak to the Capital Journal for the story.

Redistricting Amendment

Citizens Not Politicians is trying to fix gerrymandering in Ohio by getting a citizen-led redistricting commission added as an amendment to the Ohio Constitution.

The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office recently certified 535,005 signatures for the Citizens Not Politicians ballot initiative.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission is currently made up of the Ohio House Speaker, the Ohio Senate President, the governor, secretary of state, auditor of state and two minority party legislative leaders.

“ It’s not supposed to protect incumbents,” Garbrandt said.

The Citizens Not Politicians amendment would replace the current commission with the 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission. Five of their members would match the political party of the governor at the time, five would be from the party of the gubernatorial candidate who received the second-most votes in the most recent election and five would be unaffiliated members.

This article has been updated to include Wood County in the list of counties divided into two different congressional districts.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

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