Here in Ohio , we have been subjected to a huge case of Gerrymandering of House Congressional districts by the very unpopular governor and by the republican dominated legislature. We have fought a hard battle to get this problem removed by collecting signatures to get our state constitution amended to have an independent bipartisan redistricting commission established from here on out. For example when he had collected over 450,000 signatures (386,000 valid signatures were required), the republican secretary of state waited until 8 days before the deadline to inform us that 200,000 were thrown out as invalid. We then collected another 300, 000 and met the requirement to get the amendment on the ballot. A super pac was established to prevent our amendment from passing and mailings depicting our attempts to let voters select their representatives as taking away voters constitutional rights have just been sent out. As a petition gatherer I know that the vast majority of people in our states, no matter their party, favor such a commission and the goals it has. Yet outside money is co-opting our voice and we really need some national press on this issue.
So much attention is focused on the immediate need to fix voting laws to reelect Obama, yet this immediate and long term need ito remove Gerrymandering is not being discussed in the National Press.
This seems to me to be very short sighted. We re-elect President Obama and we re-elect Teaparty republicans from Ohio to the US House of Representatives. How is that combination working out for us and our country so far?? We ned to be strategic and stop al the skirmishes our republican dominated legislature and US House of Representatives can cook up. I am tired of fighting so many battles and while I will never quit, we need National publicity to help bring our message home. We are totally in this to support Voters be represented , no matter the party. I will contact Rachel, please lend your voice to mine, let everyone know. This is a great way to help the President help us. Sincerely.
= new reply since forum marked as read
