Voter Suppression 101

Ohio’s Horrible Map

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, I taught my weekly law school class.

It happened to be the two-hour unit on how politicians have for generations drawn district lines to suppress urban communities and minimize African American and minority power in legislatures—be they state or federal. We also reviewed how the Voting Rights Act helped put an end to some of this, leading to far more diverse and representative legislatures since its passage and later amendments. (Of course, the class ends with the dire risk to those gains posted by the current Court).

This focus followed decades where districts were allowed to grow to all sorts of population sizes—with the nationwide pattern that urban districts were often many times the population size of rural districts.

And the purpose and effect of what was called malapportionment was to minimize the power and voice of voters of color and urban communities in legislatures. (E.g., the 914,000 Illinois voters in the first district above (Chicago) had 1/9th the voice that the 112,000 voters in the third district enjoyed). Add that up, and this is what it looked like in Tennessee in the early 1960s, for example:

The result of all this was that despite comparatively large populations, these urban districts and their interests were consistently outvoted in state capitals and Congress by rural interests—and this was reflected in everything from disproportionate school funding to health care to policies writ large.

It’s a heavy topic: districting being used as a blunt force instrument of voter suppression that lasted most of the 20th century. Structural suppression, election after election. All of this is why Justice Earl Warren considered the most important cases of his time leading the Court not to be Brown v. Board of Education (as important as it was), but the case (Baker v. Carr) and those that followed that dismantled these systems.

So that was Wednesday’s class.

The Ohio Travesty

Twelve hours after teaching that class, I first saw the new proposed map for Ohio’s Congressional districts.

And living where I live—Cincinnati—I of course looked at that corner of the map right away.

And I immediately felt sick to my stomach. Still do.

Because what you see, in the year 2025, is the precise tactic I had been teaching my class about earlier in the day.

And if you look up at the 9th district (Toledo) you see the same thing.

Taking diverse and large cities, and twisting and turning the rest of those districts’ boundaries to dilute and minimize the vote of those communities as much as possible. Converting a natural majority into a manipulated minority.

In this case, two of Ohio’s four largest cities—the beating hearts of entire regions—are essentially drawn out of existence as a matter of representation.

It’s voter suppression and dilution 101.

The map passed yesterday.

A Quick Cincinnati History

When it comes to Cincinnati and democracy, it’s a massive setback.

You see, Cincinnati voters have been suppressed via gerrymandering for decades.

The Washington Post even featured an entire story in 2021 on the history of Cincinnati voters being suppressed. Statehouse politicians split this large city and county directly down the middle so it went unrepresented in Congress for years. A generation of strong candidates tried to take the district back, but was always toppled by a gerrymander just aggressive enough to put it out of reach. And when these candidates got closer to winning, they’d gerrymander further to ensure it was again out of reach. The Post presented it as a case study for the nation of what it looks like.

That was finally undone in 2021 (for the most part) thanks to the new Constitutional language of Ohio as well as an Ohio Supreme Court that (for one brief moment) insisted that Ohio’s Constitution be followed.

And guess what? A Democrat won that more fair and representative (although still gerrymandered) district in two close races.

As a matter of democracy, and historically, the diverse voters of Cincinnati were no longer suppressed in a district drawn to dilute them into a minority. Which is why the change was a win far beyond the occupant of the seat (Greg Landsman, who happens to be a friend of mine). Greater Cincinnati finally had the representation that it deserved…as a community.

As a matter of democracy and representation, that was progress. Historic progress.

This new map churns my stomach not only because it repeats the worst suppression tactics of history, but because it dismantles breakthrough progress that was finally made for a large and diverse Ohio community.

The same story can be told for Toledo.

There’s no sugarcoating it.

As a matter of community and democracy and representation—and in the context of the long, dark history of the districting process being used to suppress urban communities—yesterday was a disastrous day.

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One final thing: as a matter of law, a 12-3 map comes nowhere close to the letter and spirit of the current Ohio Constitution (which requires that the map should not favor or disfavor one party versus another!?). Heck, the current 10-5 map was found to be unconstitutional yet still it took effect—this one is worse than that map, as well as the map we were stuck with from 2011-2020.

But in a state that’s lost its rule of law, the fact that all this is wholly lawless and unconstitutional doesn’t even enter the discussion anymore. Another sign of just how broken Ohio governance has become.

It’s a case study of how an essential element in undermining democracy is first destroying the rule of law.

What Next?

All that said, don’t give up on Marcy Kaptur and Greg Landsman, the two current occupants of the Toledo and Cincinnati seats. These are two wonderful public servants and formidable candidates who have represented their communities well.

As a matter of politics, I will fight for and support both. And in a year like 2026, where the wind may be at our back, these two strong candidates can fight through it (and have done so before). My hope is we can pick up other seats around the nation even though they are also technically “red.”

Here is what Rep. Kaptur wrote yesterday:

And Rep. Landsman spent his day fighting to ensure those he represented and millions of Americans do not go hungry:

Beyond those races, this is also a call to action on all of us to win up and down the Ohio ballot in 2026.

We can fix gerrymandering one of two ways—but both ways require that we win the (non-gerrymandered) statewide races in 2026.

First, if we win two of the three races (Governor, Auditor, Secretary of State) next year and again in 2030, WE control the process next time around. We would have the majority of the redistricting commission to ensure that maps are drawn to reflect communities (not politician horse-trading), comply with the Constitution, and not behind closed doors; and we would have a Governor who can veto any rigged maps the legislature tries to pass.

Second, if there will ever be a ballot measure in the future to change the Constitution and reform gerrymandering (to get the politicians away from the process entirely), we will need a Secretary of State who will NOT manipulate the ballot language as Frank LaRose did in 2024. So we MUST win that race to protect the potential for an Amendment.

So winning is the only answer.

We have no choice but to win these races—2026 is the year we must do so, and 2026 looks to be the best year in some time where we can do so. Not only because it’s the midterm of an unpopular president, but because Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown are the strongest top-of-the-ticket in years who, if successful, can carry the rest of the ticket to victory if we do everything right.

Failure is not an option.