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Voter Issues

In the modern democracy there are millions of factors that go into a single election. How one votes, how one receives information on the candidates, and so many more factors go into an election. One thing that is often overlooked, however, is how it is decided where a voter’s court counts to. Our states are split up into districts, and whichever candidate wins more districts in the presidential election wins the electoral vote and therefore the state. What is significant, however, is how these districts are drawn up. Congress decides how these districts are divided, and often the dominant party decides how these are drawn up. The dominant party dividing district lines so that it works to the advantage of said party is called gerrymandering, and it is one of the greatest threats facing the modern voter today.

Urban areas tend to vote blue and rural areas tend to stay red. By strategically re-drawing district lines parties can essentially negate the votes of the minority party. This can be done by isolating more urban groups and creating a lot of rural districts or grouping in rural districts in with urban areas. If gerrymandering is done properly they can cause an area dominated by republican/democrats and turn the vote over to the minority party, making California a red state or Texas a blue one. This can be a huge issue the undermines and corrupts the underlying values of our democracy.

One way we can prevent this issue is by putting more checks on the redistricting system. All it takes at the moment is a majority in Congress by a party. It could be made more difficult for one side to stack the odds if it required more than one branch of government to be involved in ratifying redistricting. Perhaps it should be required to go through the state supreme court and pass by majority among the justices. The power for districting could be removed from Congress entirely, instead getting moved to state legislative bodies.

There are many issues facing our democracies in the 21st century, but gerrymandering is one of the greatest of these threats. There are many solutions but bickering amongst the parties during such a divided time in politics could lead to our collective demise.

Mentor Interview

The PSL Scholars Program is, like many things at Ohio State, rather large. The leaders of this group do what they can to make this program and university feel smaller by separating us into small groups headed by PSL veterans. The other day I had the great pleasure of interviewing one of my mentors Matt Leder. Matt is a Columbus native. He was born at the Werner Medical Center, so he is a Columbus boy born and raised. He grew up in Hilliard, Ohio with his brothers Max and Zach as well as his little sister Hannah. Matt attended Hilliard Darby High School and was an active member of the student body there, playing football at the school as well as being student cabinet spirit leader and a member of the National Honor Society. When asked why he picked Ohio State, the simple answer involved his hometown as well as the strong academic programs featured at the university. Matt is a double major of Economics and Public Policy Analysis, and after he graduates he plans to either go to law school or attain a PhD in Economics. Matt has remained involved while at Ohio State, taking over the role of Operations Chair of Empower Mentoring, as well as being a recruitment host for the football team and becoming a student ambassador for the university. My most important question delved into why Matt chose PSL, and his answer involved the desire to be around similarly politically-driven peers as well as involvement with a legal aspect of the university. I immensely enjoyed getting to know such a knowledgeable member of the program on a better level, and I hope for a productive relationship with my mentor in the future.