Ohio Redistricting Commission pushes for quick ruling | News, Sports, Jobs

The Ohio Redistricting Commission asked the state Supreme Court to decide if its revised state legislative district maps are constitutional by Feb. 11 or keep them in place until after the general election.

The Friday court filing states time is running out for counties boards of elections to prepare for the May 3 primary with early voting starting April 5 and a Wednesday deadline for state legislative candidates to turn in nominating petitions. It also points out that March 19 is the deadline under federal law to mail overseas absentee ballots and state law requires the ballots to be ready by March 18.

For boards of elections to be ready for the election, there needs to be time for issues such as reprogramming voter registration systems and vote tabulating equipment, which could take three weeks, according to the commission’s court filing.

“If the House and Senate district maps are not finalized on or about Feb. 11, there is risk that some of the boards may not be able to have primary election ballots printed and ready to be mailed by the March 18 (federal) deadline,” the filing reads. “Though the secretary (of state) can seek a waiver from the 45-day (federal) requirement under limited circumstances, there is no guarantee that it will be granted and Ohio cannot simply assume that it will be.”

The commission filing doesn’t address the potential for the state Legislature to delay the May 3 primary, which is something the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly has declined to do.

House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, and Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, who serve on the commission and were the driving forces behind the maps, have the political muscle to move the primary but have said they won’t consider that.

If the court can’t decide by Feb. 11, the commission asked it be granted permission to move ahead with the election this year using the maps approved last Saturday along partisan lines with the five Republicans voting in favor of them and the two Democrats in opposition.

“Not having final House and Senate district maps on or about Feb. 11 will cause prejudice to the boards of elections, candidates and to the public, all of whom are counting on having final state legislative districts in place for the imminent 2022 primary election,” the filing reads. “Boards of elections, candidates and the voters who need to know who is vying to represent them need certainty and proceeding pursuant to the map under challenge will provide it.”

The request likely is to be denied.

O’CONNOR FACTOR

It can be viewed as a way to get the maps approved for this election and then deal with a new court with a new chief justice as the current one, Republican Maureen O’Connor, has to step down at the end of the year because of the state’s age-limit law on the judicial branch.

O’Connor was the swing vote in separate 4-3 votes that found the previous state legislative and congressional maps unconstitutional because of gerrymandering.

O’Connor joined the three Democrats in the majority opinions while the three other Republican justices sided with their fellow Republicans who drew the maps.

In the 4-3 decision, the court ruled Jan. 12 the Republican-drawn legislative maps were unconstitutional because they unfairly favored that political party based on partisan statewide election results over the past decade. Those results show Republicans with 54 percent support to Democrats with 46 percent.

The rejected maps gave Republicans the advantage in 65 of 99 House districts and in 23 of the 33 Senate districts.

The revised maps give Republicans a 57-42 advantage in the House and 20-13 in the Senate. But 12 of the Democratic-leaning House districts give that party an edge of 1 percent or less while the Republican House districts give that party at least a 4 percent advantage.

“Ultimately, no plan was submitted to the commission that achieved the strict-proportionality ratio without significantly violating numerous other provisions of Article XI of the Ohio Constitution,” the Friday filing reads.

To reject the Republican maps, which give the GOP 58.3 percent of the districts, because it isn’t 54-46 “would violate over 100 years of Ohio precedent regarding cannons of construction and this court should decline to disturb that precedent,” the commission’s filing added.

The commission court filing states the Republican map was the only one submitted that was constitutional and that there was “unprecedented cooperation among the commission members.”

But the two Democrats on the commission — House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, and state Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron — disputed the Republicans’ contention of collaboration in a court filing.

“This process was secretive and closed off from the public, and we wanted to be sure the Ohio Supreme Court knew what was happening behind the scenes,” they wrote. “That’s why we took this drastic step and spoke up.”

The two urged the court to invalidate the maps and direct the state Legislature and secretary of state to make any needed adjustments to the election calendar, including Wednesday’s filing deadline.

They also said Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, denied them legal representation despite having it in the other lawsuits.

Because Russo and Sykes voted against the maps, if the court rules them constitutional, they’d be good for only four years. If the Democrats had backed the maps, they would have been in effect for 10 years.