matt huffman
GOP says ‘attempts’ on partisanship make Ohio Statehouse maps constitutional
The GOP members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission have said objections to their maps have no merit because they made their best attempt at politically balancing the maps. Democrats on the commission filed their own response in favor of invalidating the second version of the maps, just as those who objected to them want. The […]
Congressional redistricting hits the Ohio Supreme Court
The case of congressional redistricting was heard by the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday, where arguments about reforms put in place by voters and the data used by the General Assembly to draw maps framed consideration of districts going forward. Ben Stafford, an attorney representing the National Redistricting Action Fund’s challenge of the congressional maps […]
How cheating voters with gerrymandering poisons everything
Would you play poker with someone who has taken all the face cards in one deck to deal to themselves while you’re left to get cards from a deck with no kings, queens, jacks, or aces? Would you play Monopoly with someone who gets to start the game pre-owning hotels on Boardwalk, Park Place, Pennsylvania, […]
Senate passes congressional map that continues GOP stronghold over state
Ohio Senate Republicans rushed through a congressional redistricting map Tuesday introduced to the public less than 24 hours before. It was passed out of committee 5-2 along partisan lines before being passed by the whole chamber later in the day 24-7, also along partisan lines. The passage came on the same day a committee who […]
Betraying voters, Ohio Senate President Huffman and House Speaker Cupp declare moral bankruptcy
Nearly 75% of Ohio voters reformed the state constitution in 2018 to end gerrymandering and bring about fair, legal U.S. Congressional districts. Instead state Republican legislative leaders hijacked the process, betrayed voters, and have all but declared total moral and ethical bankruptcy in their cynical pursuit of political power at all costs. The behavior of […]
Ohio government panders to hard-right at expense of fair-minded majority
State government has taken a hard right turn down a dangerous road in Ohio. It’s not where most Ohioans want to go, but that doesn’t matter. The legislature doesn’t answer to us. An extreme minority is calling the shots with GOP lawmakers. Same thing is happening in other states where Republicans, with an absolute lock […]
Redistricting court challenges move forward
The fight over the legislative redistricting maps is ongoing in the Ohio Supreme Court, with a few wins already registered for opponents of the new maps. In the three different cases being considered by the state’s highest court, one from the League of Women Voters of Ohio, another from the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and yet […]
Ohio GOP leaders broke promises, failed us all by creating more rigged maps
The oddest part is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine acting as though he’s somehow powerless and had no choice when he voted to rig Ohio elections with partisan, gerrymandered maps for the next four years. After all, he’s only the governor. It’s an absurd position. Maps were proposed to the commission that actually represent the 54-46 […]
Gerrymandering is cheating: Don’t let them get away with it
Missouri Republicans thought they could get away with it. “Democracy will cease to exist in Missouri,” declared one newspaper editorial, if state Republicans ignore the will of the people on Medicaid expansion. They tried. For over a year. GOP lawmakers turned their backs on a majority of Missouri voters who amended the Missouri Constitution to […]
Education funding overhaul reappears in final budget draft
The Ohio House’s version of a public school funding overhaul won the day after negotiations ended for the new two-year state budget. The conference committee on the budget bill, comprised of members of both chambers of the Ohio legislature, returned to the so-called “Fair School Funding Plan” after the Senate tried to make its own […]
Educators favor House school funding overhaul over Senate rewrite
Officials representing Ohio’s teachers say the Senate’s new version of the public school funding overhaul leaves much to be desired, unlike the House version it would replace. “It is a matter of political will and it’s a matter of priorities, and prioritizing public education just doesn’t seem to be where the Senate is when you […]
Legislators get to work figuring out how Ohio’s primary election will proceed
The Republican answer to Ohio’s primary election confusion lays the foot down from the opening sentence. “Secretary of State Directive 2020-06, issued on March 16, 2020, is void.” The election was postponed due to COVID-19, and the power to set voting dates rests with the Ohio General Assembly. In the absence of any initial legislative […]