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Husted: “No one in Ohio is advocating this” on GOP Electoral College rigging scheme

hustedmugBravo to the Plain Dealer for getting the big four in Ohio elections law and policy on the record regarding national GOP attempts to rig the Electoral College. The Plain Dealer reports  that Gov. John Kasich, House Speaker Bill Batchelder and Senate President Keith Faber have all said through spokespeople that there are no plans for Ohio Republicans to join their compatriots in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania to change how Electoral College votes are tallied. We posted earlier this week about Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted floating the idea at a post-election lobbying confab in Columbus that winner takes all Electoral College vote tallying in Ohio would solve some of (his) perceived problems. (Perhaps like President Barack Obama winning the state.) To Husted’s credit, he says the remarks were taken out of context and said this today to the Plain Dealer:
“Nobody in Ohio is advocating this,” Husted said in a telephone interview.
Let’s hope this is the case and that Democrats and Independents in Ohio aren’t futher insulted and taken advantage of by extending gerrymandering to the Electoral College.

[Video] Husted on Record Touting Right Wing Electoral College Takeover

Last week we brought you a post regarding a concerted GOP effort to change election laws in “blue” states so that Electoral College votes would be given to presidential candidates based on congressional district rather than the winner takes all system currently in place in 48 of our 50 states. The only reason this is possible is because Republicans ruled the roost in several state governments during the last reapportionment of congressional districts in 2011 – leading to gerrymandered districts in many large states, including Ohio. lovechildOhio’s Democratic congressional candidates, as a whole, received more votes than Republican candidates in 2012. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, carried the state. Yet, Republicans hold more seats in Ohio’s congressional delegation by a 3-1 margin. Our current federal (and state) legislative maps were conceived in a downtown Columbus hotel room, the love children of U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R) and Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R). Of course, that was done in 2011. Their legislative plans worked out – Ohio Republicans are disproportionately represented (and rule) the Ohio General Assembly and our congressional delegation. Gerrymandering doesn’t work for statewide races, though. When all Ohioans vote, this fairly evenly divided state can swing either way. In the past two presidential elections, Ohio has favored a Democrat. In the past two gubernatorial elections, Ohio has elected a Democrat and then a Republican. Because Ohioans who identify with one or the other party are evenly divided along partisan lines, and most are self-described Independents in the middle, you might think that the GOP can’t fool with statewide general elections. You would be wrong. The current GOP tyranny in Columbus is inviolable for the time being short of real and immediate redistricting reform. With both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office under their control, they can do anything. The governor and Ohio’s GOP legislative leaders have been quiet on the possibility of changing the way Ohio’s Electoral College votes are cast, but Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted seems comfortable with the idea: Husted does include “redistricting reform” in his statement, but what does that mean? You will hear other Republicans say things like, “Statewide candidates will have to compete in every congressional district – not just the urban centers.” That’s a meaningless statement when our districts are not competitive and there is no plan to correct that fact. Be on the lookout Ohio. You’ve been able to count on one person, one vote when voting for president. If the GOP has its way, the rules change and a candidate with a majority of statewide votes could go down in flames courtesy of a gerrymandered Electoral College.

National Election Trend Coming to Ohio?

Currently, if a presidential candidate wins a state’s popular vote the winner also receives all of the state’s Electoral College votes.  The only exceptions to this rule are Nebraska and Maine. However, after losing two presidential elections in a row, Republican lawmakers across the nation are attempting to change this in their respective states. In several Republican-controlled legislatures in states that supported President Barack Obama there are legislative initiatives to award their state’s Electoral College votes based on congressional district.  This plan takes advantage of the fact that the GOP has successfully gerrymandered districts in key blue states. A recent analysis by the Center for American Progress shows that had this election rigging plan been in place in 2012, Mitt Romney would be in the White House, despite Obama capturing the popular vote. Ohio is ripe for this type of effort. Republicans control the governor’s office and both houses of the Ohio General Assembly. Due to this control – and the way Ohio reapportions state and federal legislative districts every ten years – for the second decade in a row Ohio’s General Assembly and congressional districts have been drawn along hyper-partisan lines. While Ohioans voted to elect Obama in the last election and statewide voting totals for Democratic candidates exceeded GOP totals, Ohio’s congressional seats are split roughly 75/25 in favor of the GOP and statehouse seats are no better. The idea to change Electoral College rules in the states is gaining momentum. Earlier this month Reince Priebus, Chairman of the RNC, voiced support.  Legislation to divide electoral votes has been introduced in Michigan and Virginia.  In Virginia this legislation has been voted out of committee. Pennsylvania Senate Republican Leader Pileggi has renewed efforts to pass such legislation in his state. Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin has said it is an “interesting idea.” This fall, shortly after the election, Secretary of State Jon Husted suggested that he supports the idea of splitting the Electoral College votes in Ohio.  Will John Husted bring this alarming national trend to Ohio? Husted said:
“You’re never going to fix the elections process in Ohio as long as we are the most important swing state in the country…. The way that you could minimize that is that you could fix redistricting so that we had fair Congressional districts and then you could apportion all of our electoral votes according to Congressional district so that it wouldn’t be a winner take all state. And if you did that you would take the importance of Ohio out of this and all of those elections problems would go away”
While he later backtracked and said this was just a comment, not a proposal, it may just be a matter of time before similar legislation finds its way to Ohio. As for fair congressional districts in Ohio, we know what the GOP really thinks of that idea. In the lame duck session of the last General Assembly there was a brief bipartisan effort to work on a more fair way to redistrict after every decennial census. There were two major roadblocks: House Speaker Bill Batchelder (a Republican) and general Republican refusal to consider any bill that would take effect before the next U.S. Census – in 2020.

Ohio women faced slew of negative bills in last Ohio General Assembly – The next one doesn’t look much different

The Joke Was on Ohio's Women: Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R) in 2011.
The Joke Was on Ohio’s Women: Ohio House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R) in 2011.
The 130th Ohio General Assembly will be sworn into office in the coming days, with only 17 new House members and 2 new Senate members, we can look back to the 129th General Assembly for an idea of how women’s issues will fare in the 130th General Assembly. In the 129th General Assembly, a total of 15 anti-woman bills or resolutions were introduced and just over 60% received a vote in either the Senate or the House. Six of these unfavorable bills were enacted.  This resulted in further restrictions on abortions and abortion coverage. A total of 26 bills or resolutions that were favorable towards women were introduced. However many of these bills never saw more than one hearing and only 15% of these bills were voted on. A bill was 4 times as likely to receive a hearing if it was unfavorable to women. Only three of the favorable bills were passed and two – SB 199 for Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day and SCR 15 Folic Acid Awareness Day – simply designated awareness days and made no major policy changes. Due to November’s election results – and the new gerrymandered House and Senate district maps, we can expect this same trend in the 130th General Assembly. The 129th General Assembly took on a few high profile fights as the house voted on and passed HB 125, the Heartbeat Bill, which would have left Ohio with the most restrictive abortion restrictions in the country.  The Senate ultimately didn’t vote on this bill and it was not enacted. House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R) has said that there is no question that this bill will again be introduced in the 130th General Assembly.
Ohio Right to Life's Michael Gonidakis, picked by Gov. John Kasich to serve on state medical board.
Ohio Right to Life’s Michael Gonidakis, picked by Gov. John Kasich to serve on state medical board.
HB 298, which attempted to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, was introduced early in the House and revived following the 2012 election. Several hearings were held and the committee ultimately voted the bill out of committee,  11-9. The measure did not receive a vote on the house floor. This too could be revived in the next general assembly. The Kasich administration demonstrated support for most of the anti-woman bills and has no problem touting his pro-life credentials. Two of Kasich’s three consumer appointments to the Ohio Medical Board have been board members of Ohio Right to Life. Michael Gonidakis, the Executive Director of Ohio Right to Life, was Kasich’s most recent appointment to the Ohio State Medical Board. As Kasich moves into his second term and faces reelection, we expect him to make more extreme appointments to Ohio boards. Ohio Women’s Watch will continue to monitor legislation and policy decisions that impact women as we move into the 130th General Assembly and the Biennial Budget.

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