COLUMBUS — Ohio’ powerful new redistricting panel has failed to reach the bipartisan consensus necessary to pass a 10-year map of state legislative districts based on 2020 census totals.
After hours of negotiations ahead of a deadline at midnight Wednesday, the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved new district boundaries by a 5-2 purely along party-line vote, which means the map will last for only four years.
The two Democrats on the panel maligned the GOP-drawn map as an unfair and arrogant thwarting of Ohio voters’ wishes.
“The Republican members of this Commission have once again failed the people of Ohio,” said House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron), who serves on the panel with her father, Democratic state Sen. Vernon Sykes.
“In the past weeks, we have heard hours upon hours of testimony from Ohioans on the deleterious effects of gerrymandering. To not have a bipartisan map after all this is deeply troubling,” Sen. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus) said.
Republicans who drew the final map said they worked to incorporate Democrats’ requests but “special interest” pressured the Democrats to vote no.
“Make no mistake, special interests want to get what they can’t win at the polls,” commission member and Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.
Legal challenges are expected.