In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from 星空无限传媒, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the fact that gerrymandering is an issue with both major political parties. Joshua Solomon, the capitol reporter for the Albany Times Union, joins the show to discuss New York's legislative maps.
A familiar story
Once upon a time, voters were upset over partisan gerrymandering and approved a new system to draw congressional maps. It set up a bipartisan commission to develop fair maps.
Well, members of that commission put the party before compromise and ultimately could not do the job. So, they handed the task over to the legislature.
The legislature is dominated by a party that holds a supermajority as well as the governor鈥檚 office. They draw a map that unfairly favors that party.
We鈥檙e not talking about Ohio. We鈥檙e not talking about Republicans. We鈥檙e talking about New York and Democrats.
When it comes to gerrymandering, New York Democrats say "Ohio Republicans, hold our beers.鈥�
Snollygoster of the week
Ohio's redistricting mess has put the May primary in doubt. There鈥檚 talk of two primaries or delaying the primary. It's a big problem, especially for county election officials.
Rather than draw fair maps and allow the May 3 primary to go off smoothly, lawmakers voted to give an extra $9 million to county boards of elections to offset any additional costs they incur because of the primary uncertainty.
Send questions and comments to snollygoster@wosu.org.