Letters: How Republicans roll in Ohio, elsewhere; majority does not rule here
Not listening to Ohio voters
After the 2016 election in North Carolina where a Democrat became governor, the Republican-controlled legislature tried to take away powers from the incoming governor. Similarly, in Ohio in 2022, when Democrats won a majority on the State Education Board, Republicans want to take away the board’s powers and give them to the governor. To see what could result, look at Virginia, where Martin Luther King Jr. Day wasn't mentioned in the governor's initial proposal for history learning standards in schools. This is how Republicans roll.
I assume the situation will continue to get worse as more power becomes concentrated. But where does one turn? The State Supreme Court? It will be Republican controlled. U.S. Supreme Court? A Republican supermajority. Will younger voters bail us out? At some point, I hope people will realize that this legislative power grab is counterproductive. I am not a lawyer, but it seems that making changes after the results of an election should be illegal. Doesn't this nullify the reason for voting? I don't know what will happen next. I do know that Ohio is not a democracy.
Marvin Pflaum, Stow
GOP stacking the deck, again
I read with interest “State GOP wants to make changes harder” (Nov. 19) and “Changing Ohio’s Constitution for abortion rights may get tougher” (Nov. 20).
It seems that the Ohio GOP is not content with supermajorities in all government branches thanks to gerrymandering — they now want to make it near impossible for the average voter to effect any change.
They now want to make it a 60% threshold for citizen-led amendments to pass. Since when is 50% + 1 vote not enough? Apparently, the GOP fears Ohio voters will pass issues that a minority of Ohio (the GOP) doesn't like. I guess majority rules in Ohio is a myth.
Why, just this month a GOP bill reemerged to make it harder to vote and another would strip powers from the Ohio Board of Education. Of course, lest we forget, they have violated multiple times already the will of the voters about fixing gerrymandering. Multiple times, with zero repercussions, court orders were ignored.
So, we just voted in districts declared illegal multiple times by Ohio’s highest court. And no repercussions. Kind of what dictatorships do, isn’t it?
We definitely need accountability here. People should be charged for their failure to fix gerrymandering and defying the courts that told them to, as well as attempting to make 60% a threshold for voter-led initiatives to pass. Those people should be fined and removed from office, jailed if necessary for blatantly defying the court. You or I sure couldn’t get away with that. Without any penalties for Republicans who disregard court orders, they will just keep giving Ohio the finger.
Richard J. Kunkel, Wadsworth
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Readers speak up on Republican maneuvers in Ohio Statehouse
