CLEVELAND, Ohio - Like your congressman or hate him? It probably doesn't matter. The fix is in. They almost always are re-elected with ease in Ohio.

This is one product of gerrymandering - the act of drawing congressional district lines to create safe seats for one party or the other.

Last year, the average margin of victory in Ohio's congressional races was 36 percentage points. The closest race wasn't close at all - decided by 18 points.

Gerrymandering also means that many people don't have a "local" representative in Congress. Their congressman or congresswoman may live 100 miles or more away.

It doesn't have to be this way.

This week, cleveland.com launched Out of Line: Impact 2017 and Beyond, a series that will search for a better way - highlighting over the next several months how some other states and countries block, or diminish, the role of politicians from the process of mapping political districts.

The idea is to find a system that puts ordinary people first - not the elected officials and lobbyists - and to advocate for the best ideas to be incorporated in Ohio.

In case you missed it, here are links to the first two installments:

Wednesday

Thursday

Next will be an examination of some of the best methods used to draw districts in other states and other countries. All the stories will be posted at this link.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.