If you need another example of how dysfunctional our political system has become, turn your attention to the redistricting fight simmering in Columbus.

Republicans stung by criticism of Ohio’s ridiculous Congressional map which has allowed them to control 12 of 16 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to get bipartisan support for a new approach for drawing Ohio’s districts.

The current map is an embarrassment to our democracy, gerrymandering the lines to give Republicans a clear majority of likely voters in each district. It also splits Portage County among three districts and features one narrow Democratic district stretching from Toledo to Cleveland.

Facing a Wednesday filing deadline and a grassroots November ballot issue, Republicans are trying to place a constitutional amendment on the May ballot to change the process for redrawing districts after the 2020 census, when Ohio will likely drop to 15 seats in the House. 

The GOP plan would require the support of at least one-third of Democrats (or the minority party at the time) before a new congressional map could be approved for the full 10 years.  But it fails to provide adequate guidelines for how districts should be composed. And if the Legislature could not pass a map, a partisan plan could be approved for four years.

Thus, Republicans have been unable to win over Leaders of the Fair Districts = Fair Elections coalition, which is pursuing a separate proposal for the November ballot. 

The coalition’s plan calls for completely taking away the Legislature’s map-drawing powers and using the Ohio Redistricting Commission consisting of the governor, secretary of state, the state auditor, and a Republican and Democrat from the House and Senate. This commission already will be handling Ohio’s state districts in 2021 under an issue voters overwhelmingly supported a few years ago.

Approval of any map would require support from at least two members of the minority party, ensuring a more fair map. It also calls for fair districts that are "geographically contiguous and compact" with no county being split more than once.

All of the points make sound sense and respect the balance of power our Democracy requires.

But the plan also states "representational fairness is required," which has greatly concerned Republicans. The coalition says the concept means "that the statewide percentage of districts leaning towards each of the two major parties shall closely correspond to the partisan preferences of the voters of Ohio."

From our perspective, the current GOP plan might help make districts more politically balanced, while the coalition’s plan could go too far and make drawing the maps too complicated.

Whatever happened to simply drawing maps with balanced populations based on geography without any regard for politics? Isn’t that how the authors of our Constitution envisioned our system working?

Let’s drop the representational fairness language and take the power away from lawmakers who have consistently failed Ohioans.