COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s back to the drawing board for the Ohio Redistricting Commission. They have until Wednesday to tell the Ohio Supreme Court why they shouldn’t be held in contempt after failing to meet a court-set deadline for fixing state legislative maps.
It’s a process that happens every ten years. But this year is different. Back in 2015, Ohio voters voted on new rules to draw updated legislative maps that do not unfairly benefit one party.
"They have grappling with trying to redraw those districts since it went into effect in 2021," expains David Cohen, professor of political science at the University of Akron.
Last week, the Ohio Redistricting Commission failed to meet a court-set deadline when it didn’t submit new legislative maps. That’s after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected proposed maps twice already for being gerrymandered in favor of Republicans.
"The whole point of the redistricting process was to try to get the parties to sit down and work out a deal in a orderly fashion that would be fair to all concerned," adds Jonathan Entin, professor of law at Case Western Reserve University.
The state’s redistricting commission held a brief meeting Tuesday to talk about plans to move forward. "We have an obligation to follow the constitution and follow the court order and we have an obligation to produce a map," says Gov. Mike DeWine, a member of the commission.
Lawmakers have also failed to come up with new congressional maps, but are promising to get to that soon. Meetings are planned again Wednesday and Thursday. Political experts say the uncertainty surrounding the new redistricting maps puts the May 3rd primary in jeopardy as candidates won’t be sure as to which voters will be in their districts.
There’s another element to this: Governor Mike DeWine is on the Ohio Redistricting Commission – and his son is on the Ohio Supreme Court. Some have pointed to a potential conflict of interest ahead of the commission’s response on why is shouldn’t be held in contempt of court.
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