COLUMBUS (AP) — A panel of federal judges asked to intervene in Ohio’s protracted redistricting battle has raised a new option for keeping the May 3 primary alive: Shrinking the early voting period.
The group won’t decide yet.
It has ordered Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose to pinpoint by Monday whether such an adjustment would violate any laws.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission also faces a Monday deadline to approve new Statehouse maps.
The Ohio Supreme Court has declared three earlier sets unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
A group of Republican voters asked the judges to order LaRose to implement the most recent maps. Judges declined.
The primary is scheduled for May 3, and it’s just six weeks away. But candidates still don’t know whether the contest will happen at that date.
The series of court rulings invalidating Republican-drawn redistricting maps has threatened to delay the primary by a month or more.
There’s even a chance the election could be split onto two dates, with one focusing on statewide races and the other on the Statehouse and congressional contests that are tied up in the mapmaking fight.
That’s left candidates scrambling to shift their strategies for fundraising, advertising and voter outreach just as they thought they were nearing the end of the primary campaign.