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Gregory T. Moore| Guest columnist

Gregory T. Moore is author of the new book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act, the Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform Americas Voter Registration Laws. He lives in Cleveland.

Over the last two years, since the beginning of the redistricting and reapportionment process, we have watched as Republicans in the state legislature have vehemently undermined both the spirit and the letter of the law under the Ohio Constitution.

First, they completely dismissed and circumvented the law by refusing to draw fair legislative and congressional maps as mandated by two overwhelmingly popular referendums passed by Ohio voters in 2015 and 2018. Second, they refused to obey the Ohio Supreme Court decisions that ruled the maps submitted by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission were unconstitutional.

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Unfortunately, this history of circumventing the will of the voters did not begin there. It is only the latest example of the further erosion of our democracy in the state of Ohio under a supermajority Republican rule in state government.

Ohio is one of the few states where the right of referendum is granted to the citizens as the highest arbitrator of lawmaking when the legislature and its elected executive fall out of alignment with the citizens of Ohio.

This was the case in 2011, when voters of Ohio pushed back against a Republican legislature and governor who signed a law, Senate Bill 5, that would have rolled back Ohio workers collective bargaining rights. Citizens of Ohio rose up in the "We Are Ohio" campaign that gathered over 1.3 million signatures, which sent that measure to the ballot to be repealed.

Voters responded overwhelmingly and overturned that law, saving millions of workers from economic disaster in the midst of a crippling recession and record unemployment.

The Republican-led legislature in that same year passed a draconian voter suppression bill, House Bill 194, that rolled back the very popular provisions of Democrat-sponsored Ohio election law reforms. It sought to eliminate early voting, no-fault absentee voting, weekend voting, and other pro-democracy reforms passed by the previously Democrat-controlled legislature.

Those reforms, administered by then-Secretary of State and current Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner broke down longstanding barriers to voting that led to historic turnouts of over 70% of Ohio voters in the 2008 elections. It was the election year that saw Ohio play a decisive role as the state that put the first African American president, Barack Obama, over the top in electoral votes on that historic election night.

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Once Republicans regained control of the legislature and governors mansion in 2010, they sought to repeal these election law reforms in 2011, leading to another statewide referendum to repeal House Bill 194. The repeal campaign under the banner of "Fair Elections Ohio" was led by former Secretary of State and current Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner and a large cross-section of voting rights advocates, labor, clergy, and Democratic leaders.

The effort gained the support of Ohio voters across the political spectrum, with overwhelming strong support in both blue and red counties across the state. Seeing what was sure to be another major defeat at the polls in November 2012, Republican lawmakers and then-Secretary of State now Lt. Gov. Jon Husted voted to remove the referendum from the ballot and repealed most portions of the bill themselves.

As we observe the 10th anniversary of that historic victory in voting rights, we are reminded that the fight to save our democracy is ongoing. Whether its undermining the administration of the elections process, stripping away reproductive rights, or ignoring constitutional court rulings on redistricting; the citizens of Ohio have had enough.

This legislative arrogance of circumventing the voices of the people and undermining their constitutional laws has to end.

On Nov. 8, voters across the state will have the opportunity to reject those candidates who have ignored their demands to reform the redistricting process and expand voting rights.

Thankfully, it is the will of the citizens of Ohio, and not the recalcitrant legislature who will have the final word in stopping the further erosion of our democracy in the state of Ohio.

Gregory T. Moore is author of the new book, Beyond the Voting Rights Act, the Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform Americas Voter Registration Laws. He lives in Cleveland.

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Opinion: To help save democracy, Ohio must reject those who ignore us - The Columbus Dispatch