Revised legislature maps face midnight deadline
After squandering nine days to publicly hammer out new state House and Senate maps, the Ohio Redistricting Commission will meet Thursday afternoon – 10 and a half hours before its midnight deadline.
Every decade, mapmakers must draw new district lines for those who represent Ohioans in Columbus and Washington D.C. The Ohio Supreme Court, in 4-3 decisions, has struck down two versions of district lines for the 99 House and 33 Senate members.
The seven-member commission tasked with drawing these districts is set to meet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The court’s most recent decision told the commission to start fresh and complete new maps by midnight Thursday. The new maps must be filed with the court by 9 a.m. Friday.
So far, Republicans have not proposed new maps for legislative district lines. Democrats have pitched their maps – which would give Republicans a 54-45 advantage in the House and an 18-15 advantage in the Senate – as proportional and constitutional.
Late Tuesday, two groups that sued over Ohio’s maps proposed their own districts, created by Stanford professor Jonathan Rodden. Under this proposal, the GOP would maintain a 56-43 advantage in the House and an 18-15 in the Senate.
What will happen at this afternoon’s meeting is still a mystery. On Wednesday, Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said that GOP staff members had been working on new House and Senate proposals.
Huffman said Republicans could present a map, but didn’t know if they could present a map that complies with the Ohio Constitution, two court decisions and would be supported by the majority of the commission.
“I don’t know the answer to the question, that question as I stand here,” Huffman said.
For new statehouse maps to last for 10 years, they would need support from four of the commission members and both Democrats. Maps passed without Democratic support would last through the 2024 elections.
It’s not clear what could happen if the Ohio Redistricting Commission fails to enact another set of maps by 11:59 p.m. Thursday. House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, hinted that the court could take action against commission members but declined to offer specifics.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor’s statement during a December oral argument has proven prescient: “If it (the map) is challenged, and it’s back here, this could go on forever.”
“Ad nauseam,” replied attorney Phil Strach, who represented Republican mapmakers.
What will happen to Ohio’sMay 3rd primary?
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a member of the commission, warned lawmakers in a Monday letter that there were “significant risks associated with the current timeline” for the state’s primary, currently slated for May 3.
But he didn’t offer an alternative, writing that lawmakers set the time and place of elections. Huffman, who had previously pitched holding two primaries, has since backed off that proposal.
“Nobody seems to like that idea,” he said.
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.