We’re now less than a week from Election Day, and the furious last-minute push of radio and TV ads, mailings, and get out the vote calling and canvassing is underway.
In Ohio, the marquee races are a gubernatorial contest between incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland and Republican challenger that appears to be close and a U.S. Senate race between Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Lee Fisher that polls are indicating will be a Portman blowout. Along with those two headline races, Ohioans will vote for a full slate of statewide offices, Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court, the U.S. House of Representatives, and members of the Ohio Senate and Ohio House. It will take a while to complete our ballots come Tuesday.
Although they haven’t commanded as much attention, two statewide races, for Secretary of State and Auditor, will have great long-term significance. The occupants of those two offices, along with the Governor and one representative each of the Republican and Democratic parties, will form the Apportionment Board that will redraw the map of Ohio’s legislative districts after the 2010 census results are released. The results of the Auditor’s race and the Secretary of State’s race therefore will determine whether the Ohio legislative districts are gerrymandered to benefit Democrats, or gerrymandered to benefit Republicans — or maybe, just maybe, drawn to reflect logical geographical and social factors in a way that results in more fairly competitive races for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. (But who am I kidding?)
Edited to correct my mistake in the original post, which stated that the Apportionment Board redraws Ohio’s congressional districts. Instead, it redraws Ohio’s state legislative districts. The redrawing of congressional districts is reserved for the Ohio General Assembly. Thanks to the Philosopher King of the Fifth Floor for steering me in the right direction on an embarrassing error.
Webner House 