Ohio Republicans' redistricting map dilutes Black voting power, say Democrats and voting advocates
CINCINNATI — Michael Dantley, a bishop for 47 years at his church north of downtown, knows that no matter how many Black voters he mobilizes to the polls, it has been preordained that a White conservative who doesn’t share their values will represent them in Congress.
Here in Cincinnati, where Black residents make up almost half of the population, state Republican officials drew a congressional map 10 years ago that sliced through the city, dividing urban neighborhoods into districts dominated by further flung, predominantly White areas.
A constitutional amendment approved by 75 percent of Ohio voters in 2018 was supposed to end that partisan gerrymandering, requiring — among other changes — that cities like Cincinnati be left whole.
So when Republican state lawmakers released a map this week, they split Black voters another way: keeping all of Cincinnati together but combining it with distant, conservative White areas, and divvying up the remaining and diverse parts of Hamilton County between two other seats. The result: three districts in which Black Democratic voters are offset by White Republicans. Only one will probably be competitive.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ohio-republicans-redistricting-map-dilutes-black-voting-power-say-democrats-and-voting-advocates/ar-AAQSASR