COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s new congressional map is facing a battle in the Supreme Court after a lawsuit questioning gerrymandering and the legality of how a redrawing of the map was done.
Governor Mike DeWine approved and the signed the map into law in November with groups quickly questioning how constitutional the process of creating it was.
The make-up of the map has been the center of attention for months in Ohio, determine what could be new Ohio congressional districts.
“It just does not accurately represent our populations across the state,” the Political Action Chair for the NAACP Cleveland Branch, Ifeolu Claytor said.
“If they chose to reject the maps, they can tell us why,” Secretary of State of Ohio, Frank LaRose said. “Time is of the essence.”
LaRose, a Republican who was on the state’s redistricting committee, sat down with 3News Investigative Reporter Marisa Saenz to answer questions about the process of redrawing the maps.
“In a commission like that, you need to be able to get a majority of people together that have that same interest in finding that compromise and there wasn’t the interest by several of my colleagues,” LaRose said.
The redistricting map, which would only rule for four years due to a partisan agreement, is meant to reflect political proportionality based on voting results, amongst other things, and has landed in the hands of the Ohio Supreme Court.
“Yesterday, [the Court] put on an order and asked for additional briefing, which means they’re wrestling with this a little bit and which way they want to go,” Ohio Attorney General, Dave Yost said.
Both parties are required to answer the court by Friday. The new map would favor the GOP in 12 of Ohio’s 15 seats.
The National Redistricting Action Fund, who filed the suit argues the anti-gerrymandering reform, signed into state law in 2018 is being ignored, and is challenging legality of the redrawing.
“Is there a reflection of gerrymandering here that is beyond the reflection of votes?” Saenz asked LaRose.
“The ultimate decision is up to the voters,” LaRose responded. “I don’t think that anyone should be so arrogant to think that the line drawing determines the outcome.”
“[The map is] not representative. Clearly these maps do favor one party over another,” Claytor said. We want to see districts that are a little more concise because, again, that focuses on the people that really live there.”
Republicans that approved the map, including LaRose called the map constitutional but are reminding voters and the Court that time in scarce heading into a 2022 election year.
“It’ll be election season before we know it,” LaRose said.
*Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from a previous report.