TOLEDO, Ohio — The legislative district maps the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in July are the same ones Ohio voters are voting in as they did in the May and August primaries.
Ohio Republican legislators appealed the decision Friday, and the maps are now going to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, Ohio's Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, spoke on the new maps in regard to the election while he visited the new Lucas County Board of Elections building.
As Ohio's congressional maps still lay in litigation, LaRose said the candidates in this election will still be chosen from it no matter what for the next two years.
"The men and women who are elected to these districts on Nov. 8 will serve for those two years in those districts in Congress, State Senate and State House of Representatives," he said.
He said voters need to make sure they still know what district they are in, because some may wonder where their district is or who their representatives are.
Barb Colvin, Chair of District Voters in the League of Women Voters, said these district maps could be part of why there were low turnouts in the primaries but are not the definite reason.
"In the primary in May, there were only 15% of the registered voters in Lucas County who voted," she said. "And those are the ones that decided who will be in this November 8th election and I don't think that's very representative of democracy."
Colvin said that despite Ohio's ongoing struggle with the district maps, voters should still go to the polls.
"We want people to vote because that's how we get the people in power making decisions for us, however that goes," she said.
LaRose said voteohio.gov has information on every district in the state, and the districts that were created this year will be the districts that members are sworn into next year.
Early voting is available up until the day before election day on Nov. 8 at the Lucas County Board of Elections at the shared services building in west Toledo.