As laid out in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 2), a census is completed every ten years the United States, the official accounting of the US population. From this count, states are apportioned representatives for the House of Representatives. No matter the geographic space, each district must have roughly the same number of people. In Ohio, the Ohio General Assembly is made up of 99 districts, and the Ohio State Senate is made up of 33 districts (three Ohio house districts make up one Ohio State Senate district).
Population change and where people live certainly complicates matters. These two seemingly non-political elements factor into questions about representation because of how we elect representatives. Ohio, like almost every other state, uses single-member districts and the plurality rule. This means that one person represents a district and that he/she is elected by winning the most votes, not necessarily a majority of votes.
Representation and redistricting become problematic because the decisions of how the draw the district boundaries involve political questions. And politics is about power: Who has it and wants to keep it and who wants it. Redistricting does not have to lead to Gerrymandering, but it often does. Gerrymandering, named for the salamander like shape of Massachusetts state senate election districts in 1812 under then Governor Elbridge Gerry, is creating legislative district boundaries to benefit the party in power. Redistricting is front and center because it can lead to misrepresentation.
And questions about representation are not new. Since the Articles of Confederation, representation has been imperfect. The US Constitution addressed problems of state representation, but led to other representation imperfections. And, some imperfections of representation are clear even today. So let us ask: Who is represented?
Holding a mirror up to the 117th US Congress will show us that members of Congress tend to be older, wealthier, and better educated than the general public. Congress also remains overwhelming white (77% to 60%) and male (73% to 49%). Here in Ohio representation in the Ohio General Assembly is also disproportionately white (84% to 77%) and male (66% to 49%).
The US Constitution created a political system with a promise of representative democracy but it began like a representative oligarchy, where the business of government was for the privileged few (white, property owning, men), and where landless men, women, and minorities were excluded. It was not until voting rights were extended and protected by laws and Constitutional amendment (15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th), that the promise of representative democracy had a clear path forward. Indeed, today the path towards representative democracy is an electoral system of free and fair elections. An electoral process where political leaders compete for public support and where those votes are translated into representation fairly.
Using the 2018 and 2020 elections as examples we can see how single-member districts can translate representation unfairly and leads to uncompetitive elections.
For example, in 2018 Democrats running for State Senate seats won a total of 1,143,327 votes (52.6%) and Republicans won 1,028,779 votes (47.4%). But of the 17 seats up for election, Democrats won only 7 or 41.2% of the seats. Two years later, Democrats won a total of 1,097,400 (38.5%) whereas Republicans won 1,754,433 votes (61.5%). Of the 16 seats up for re-election in 2020, Democrats won 1. Two things are clear: Republicans have an electoral advantage in Ohio; however, their advantage in Ohio’s legislative bodies skewed by single-member districts.
One last thing: competition. In the 2020 election 23 of the 99 seats were uncontested by one of the two major parties. In addition, 21 of the 99 were won by 40% or more. That’s 44 of 99 seats that are clearly un-competitive. In fact, only 22 seats were relatively close with a margin of victory of 15% or less.
Representation is an essential element of American’s democratic republic. Creating an electoral system that lives up to the promise of representative democracy is a challenge that should not be ignored for another ten years.
Daniel Birdsong is a lecturer in the University of Dayton Department of Political Science.
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