COLUMBUS – The panel charged with redrawing Ohio’s electoral maps has until noon Thursday to respond to the latest challenge to the new version of the state’s congressional districts.
After its first map was found unconstitutional, the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a second map, creating 10 GOP districts, three Democratic districts and two competitive districts.
The League of Women Voters of Ohio and other nonpartisan groups filed a motion Tuesday with the Ohio Supreme Court challenging the maps as unconstitutional. argues that two districts need to be brought into compliance.
“The voters were ‘cracked and packed.’ Instead of creating districts that really keep voters together that have more in common – economically, culturally, politically – they combined parts of central Ohio with rural areas, almost all the way to Dayton,” League of Women Voters executive director Jen Miller said.
In its response filed Tuesday to a separate challenge of the same map, the commission defended it as constitutional and says certain constitutional requirements of map drawing don’t apply to the commission.
Miller says unfairly drawn maps dilute the power of votes.
“It means that once someone gets into office, they know that they will continue to win their office and they don’t have to listen to voters,” she said.
Ohio’s state legislative maps also remain in limbo, awaiting the outcome of a third legal challenge before the Ohio Supreme Court.
ven with the legal challenges to the legislative maps unresolved, the state is proceeding with plans for a May 3 primary.