The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Oxford will hold a forum on the redistricting process at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14. on the second floor of 104 E. Church St. 

A commission in the Ohio Legislature is currently working on redrawing the lines of federal congressional districts and state representative districts, both for the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. These lines are redrawn every 10 years after the U.S. census. 

2020 U.S. census data revealed that Ohio is growing, but not as fast as the rest of the nation. This caused the state to lose one congressional seat, bringing the number of congressional districts down to 15. The district lines will be redrawn so that each congressional district has roughly the same amount of people. 

Ohio cities generally saw an increase in population, while rural areas saw a decline. According to the census data, Delaware, Union and Warren counties grew the most. Butler County saw the eighth highest increase out of Ohio’s 88 counties with a 5.69% population growth. 

LWV of Oxford Communications Director Kathie Brinkman said that her organization’s goal is to educate Oxford residents on the redistricting process. 

The commission has until Sept. 15 to submit a draft of the newly drawn Ohio Legislature districts and until Sept. 30 to submit a draft of the new congressional districts. Brinkman said it is unlikely that these deadlines will be met, so they want to educate people to be advocates. 

“What we want are fair districts,” Brinkman said. “How we do that is educating people so that they can advocate to the commission that all they want are fair districts where they are properly represented.” 

LWV of Oxford members Dana Miller and Jenny Fisher will be leading the forum, both have been advocates for the fair district campaign. 

Anyone is welcome to attend and the organization asks that everyone wear a facial covering to comply with the current mask mandate in place for the City of Oxford. The event will not have a virtual option.