TOLEDO, Ohio — As state officials continue to battle over new maps for Ohio's legislative and Congressional districts, elections officials who are charged with organizing the May 3 primary say much of what they need to know to do their jobs remains up in the air.
Wood County Board of Elections Director Terry Burton said local officials cannot move forward without many details that will not be hammered out until the legal fight over how to draw the new maps is resolved.
"With where lines are, which candidates, and whether the election's going to held May 3," Burton said.
As they do every 10 years, Ohio officials were required to redraw maps for Ohio state Senate, state House of Representatives, and Congressional seats. This year, however, the process has stalled in a long legal battle.
A pair of anti-gerrymandering ballot measures changed the state constitution since the last redistricting process. The new process has yet to yield any maps that have passed muster with the state's Supreme Court. And that has left elections officials in a bind.
While Secretary of State Frank La Rose has given them orders to begin the months-long preparations for an election without congressional and legislative candidates, Attorney General Dave Yost has also written a letter to Ohio's General Assembly explaining several legal options for the lawmakers, including voting to delay the primary.
Burton says despite the mixed signals in Columbus, election officials have to assume the election is going forward as planned.
"If that date moves, then we'll address that at that time. But for now, we have to do what is necessary so that if we do hold an election May 3, we're ready for voters, for early voting, for overseas and military voting," Burton said.
Burton said there is precedent for delaying the election. In 2020 the primary was pushed back because of concerns about the coronavirus. However, Burton said splitting the May primary into two events -- one for local issues and one for legislative races -- is something new that could adversely affect voter interest.
"Voters are used to going to the polls in May," he said. "They're used to going to the polls in November. Any change in that any change in that is going to affect it, how much and to what degree, that's anyone's guess."
For Genoa Area Local Schools Superintendent Michael Ferguson both pushing the election and splitting the primary are unfavorable. The district will ask voters to approve two major levies, with multiple teachers' jobs on the line. Ferguson says with a split election, they would have to contend with fewer people at the polls, making it less likely the levies will be approved. However, he says delaying the election will have consequences of its own.
"May gives us a chance to get those people back, by August they will have already found new jobs, and for us trying to find people to fill those positions in August, it's just too problematic, it's too late, it's too close to the start of the school year," Ferguson said.
Ferguson said the partisan political fight over legislative maps drag on is frustrating because local communities and their voters are the ones who suffer.