After every decennial federal census - the next of which comes due in 2011 - the Ohio Apportionment Board meets to realign Ohio General Assembly Districts. Whichever political party of the state’s duopoly parties controls this board always gerrymanders these districts to arrogate to itself as much political power as possible, regardless of whether that benefits voters or not.

If that Board met today, here would be its composition:

O. Const § 11.01 Persons responsible for apportionment of state for members of General Assembly
The governor [Democrat], Auditor of state [Republican], secretary of state [Democrat], one person chosen by the speaker of the House of Representatives [Democrat] and the leader in the Senate of the political party of which the speaker is a member [Republican], and one person chosen by the legislative leaders in the two houses of the major political party of which the speaker is not a member [Republican] shall be the persons responsible for the apportionment of this state for members of the general assembly.

If you add those up, you see it contains 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats [and no Libertarians or other independents, even though polls consistently show that independents outnumber both Republicans and Democrats in this state].

That’s why the districts are so misshapen and fail to meet the criteria Mike feels are necessary in creating such districts. Take a look at these districts:

Libertarians are candidates for several of the offices that comprise the Apportionment Board. If Mike is elected, he will vote for no apportionment plan that fails to meet the "3COM" criteria:

• COMpact
• COMpetitive
• COMmonality of interests

Compact means no more skinny little misshapen districts drawn to favor one duopoly party or the other. Competitive means that any candidate from any party, including Libertarians and other independents, have a roughly equal chance of representing you. Commonality of interest means that persons who share common values and interests - for example rural, agricultural versus urban – are in the same district.

The big parties are horrified at such a prospect. That’s a good reason why you should vote for Mike and for all other Libertarians this November. End the arrogant duopoly.