Democracy is already being destroyed. Just look at what Republicans have done in Ohio.
Ohio’s 15 congressional seats are all being contested on illegal maps. It is a sham election, not totally unlike the ones Vladimir Putin conducted in parts of Ukraine.
There is nothing theoretical about the attack on democracy. It is not only an attack that is underway, but also an attack that has, in some places already succeeded. Look at Ohio. I’m not talking about how democracy could die. I’m talking about what our politics will look like after it is dead.
Ohio’s 15 congressional seats are all being contested on illegal maps. It is a sham election, not totally unlike the ones Vladimir Putin conducted in parts of Ukraine. The entrenched GOP is flaunting the rule of law for partisan power. It is a firm break from American history and our small-d democratic tradition.
Let me explain, because this is the sort of thing that for most of us is so unthinkable that we cannot accept that is actually happening.
At this very moment, while we are talking, Ohioans are going to the polls. Between now and November 8th they will cast votes for state legislators and members of Congress in districts that the Ohio State Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional.
How is that possible? It is certainly not because Ohio voters decided they want it this way. Back in 2015 Ohioans voted to amend their constitution to end partisan gerrymandering. 71 percent of the voters supported the amendment.
The amendment is now part of the state constitution, yet the state’s ruling GOP simply ignored it. Republicans control the legislature, the governor’s office, and they have a majority on the state supreme court. Government of the people, by the people and for the people took a back seat to government of the party, by the party and for the party.
In utter contempt for the voters in Ohio, and for rule of law, the GOP controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission submitted maps for congressional and legislative districts that violated the new Constitutional provision against hyper partisan map making.
The Ohio Supreme Court, led by a republican Chief Justice, overturned the maps. That should have been the end of it. But no. The redistricting commission submitted five nearly identical maps to the Court, and each time the Court struck those maps down.
The “Gavel” by Andrew F. Scott outside the Supreme Court of Ohio. Photo credit: Ohio Outdoor Sculpture.
To see this as nothing but a political power grab, consider the electoral context. Based on past elections Ohio is about a 54-46 Republican state. To get to 71 percent in favor of anything means a measure has broad support across the political spectrum. But that did not matter to the state’s ruling GOP. They were in charge, and they meant to keep it that way. The current Ohio Congressional delegation is 12-4 Republican. (Ohio lost a seat after the last census.) The unconstitutional map that voters are using now looks to be 11-2 Republican with two toss ups. As you can see, fully 30 percent of the republican advantage is due to gerrymandering. Those are the facts, and when the Ohio Supreme Court looked at them, they simply could not square it with the language the voters added to state constitution.
Unable to win approval in the state, the Ohio GOP just ran out the clock. Then with the election looming they asked a federal court to intervene so they could use their state legislative map. Calling it “the best of bad options,” the federal panel agreed and imposed the unconstitutional map “for this election only.”
Note the language- they said for this election only so that new and legal maps could be drawn before the next election. They did not say the maps were constitutional, they only said they felt like they had no choice.
But here’s the thing, the federal court did not rule on congressional maps. Their ruling was only about the state legislative districts. The only ruling on the congressional maps is the one from the Ohio Supreme Court, and that is absolutely clear- the maps are illegal. Today Ohioans are voting in those illegal, unconstitutional, and hyper partisan Congressional districts.
To be clear: The winners will not be duly elected.
There is no power in Ohio to remedy this crime. The Supreme Court could not do it. At a loss, the Chief Justice told reporters the amendment has no discernible effect on map making. She is leaving the Court this year and promises to dedicate the rest of her career to the fight against gerrymandering.
Without help in Ohio, where can voters turn to redress this wrong? The federal courts will not help. John Roberts saw to that when he held in Rucho that “Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”
Out of reach of the courts? Roberts is happy to opine on racial gerrymandering, which is a more subtle question that partisan gerrymandering, which is really just a high school math problem.
Are we, then, expected to give up on the rule of law? Are we expected to allow elections to be made false just because one party has the power and the lust to make the so?
We must not. But after the GOP ignored the courts in Ohio, and the abdication of the federal judiciary, only Congress can protect its own legitimacy now.
I hope you will join me and call on Congress to refuse to seat the winners of these sham elections – no matter who is elected- until such a time as legal maps are implemented, and new elections conducted.
This pretense of democracy is all we will have if we let them get away with it. And Ohio, though further down this evil road, is not alone. Election deniers are on the ballot across America. They are determined to undermine faith in our democratic processes so that they can install an unpopular government- and we have seen what that leads to in terms of policy: no reproductive choice, no limits on ownership of assault weapons, no effort to address climate change, tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, and endless ripping of the country apart with appeals to bigotry and fear.
There are 30 days until the polls close. I have posted an election volunteer guide on Heartland Signal. It’s also on twitter:
You must not sit this out.
By the way, Ohio elects its Supreme Court. Three Democrats are running and they could use your help: Jennifer Brunner, Marilyn Zayas and Terri Jamison.