COLUMBUS, Ohio —
The Ohio Redistricting Commission now has only five days to redraw the Buckeye State's legislative electoral maps after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the previous map approved late last year is unconstitutional.
Tuesday, the commission met in response to the high court's ruling. Members must redo the maps, which the court ruled must better reflect the voting preferences of the state. In Ohio, about 54 percent of the electorate is Republican and about 46 percent is Democratic.
Voters approved anti-gerrymandering ballot measures in 2015 and 2018 mandating that officials draw maps for the state's legislative districts and Congressional districts more fairly. The constitutional amendments required Ohio's redistricting commission draw maps that are compact, don't favor one political party over another, and don't split communities when that is possible.
Earlier this month the court ruled that the state legislative maps and the Congressional maps created by the redistricting commission failed to meet these requirements and ordered the commission back to work.
First up, the commission must remake the maps for Ohio's state Senate and state House.
"I know we came here to follow the court's order. This is our second chance to do what is right by Ohioans and deliver bipartisan, 10-year maps that will follow the constitution and follow the preferences of our voters," said Ohio Representative Allison Russo, one of the members of the commission.
However, the redistricting commission already has burned through five of the 10 days the Ohio Supreme Court gave them to submit new legislative maps, and it's clear that the members can feel the clock is ticking. Members mentioned multiple times during Tuesday's meeting the difficulty of redrawing new maps by the deadline.
However, perhaps an even bigger issue comes from what will happen after the maps are submitted.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose expressed serious concerns about how redrawing the legislative maps will affect May's general election, pointing out that the longer they wait to submit the legislative maps, the more difficult it will be to manage a primary. The programming of districts and voter data, as well as the collection of votes from overseas and military service members will now be weeks behind.
"Let me be clear, the general assembly has ordered me to hold a general election on May 3, and I am committed to making sure that happens. But without finality in maps, that starts to become mechanically impossible very soon. So we need to reach that finality as quickly as possible," LaRose said.
To try to give local board of elections more time to adjust, LaRose has asked the Ohio General Assembly for the temporary authority to change the State house and Senate filing deadlines to March 8 and for permission to adjust other administrative deadlines.
And with the pressure on, the redistricting commission is racing to finish the new legislative maps by the Ohio Supreme Court's deadline by Sunday.