Mikayla Lee - Columbus, Ohio

Mikayla Lee of Columbus, Ohio is one of the plaintiffs suing the Ohio Redistricting Commission over gerrymandered legislative maps.

“As a young Black, progressive woman from Central Ohio, gerrymandering makes it difficult to advocate for myself and others who look like me.”

 

I work at a nonprofit that recruits and trains people to run for office. I also spend a lot of my time volunteering in my community, including working with children at my local library. I graduated from Ohio State and have lived in Cincinnati and outside the Dayton area where I went to high school. Ohio’s a great state, and I really love living and working here.

The fight for fair maps is something I'm extremely passionate about. If we want democracy to be effective, we shouldn't disenfranchise people, nor should we make them feel as if their vote doesn’t matter. We absolutely cannot go into the next decade without fair maps and proper representation.

As a young Black, progressive woman from Central Ohio, gerrymandering makes it difficult to advocate for myself and others who look like me.  No matter where we work or what we do, no matter how many calls we make or emails we send, legislation that will directly affect my community is already being brokered in back rooms, without our input.

That doesn’t stop us, of course. We still keep calling. We still work hard and advocate for change, but it's an uphill battle when the votes are already stacked and the outcome almost a given. 

It’s hard to overlook the fact that communities of color are being separated with these maps all over the state. Not only does this “cracking and packing” of communities affect the power of our votes, it also impacts who is positioned to run for office.

Unfair maps also increase political polarization and lead to more extreme legislation. We keeping seeing extreme bills including stand your ground laws, anti-transgender proposals and so-called “heartbeat” bills that the majority of Ohioans oppose. But thanks to gerrymandered districts, the General Assembly can double down on partisan agendas instead of helping our communities with better programs and funding for education, employment, and pandemic recovery.

This is the moment and this is our chance to make it  right for the next 10 years. Fair maps will allow us to elect leaders who truly represent us and will work to make Ohioans’ lives better, not just pursue more power and push through a partisan agenda.