COLUMBUS — Voting-rights and Democratic groups have taken their first steps to argue once again that redrawn maps of Ohio legislative districts remain unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
Evidence to back up their objections was filed Tuesday afternoon at the Ohio Supreme Court and, late Tuesday night, the ACLU of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the law firm Covington and Burling filed objections to the revised state House and Senate legislative maps adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission on Saturday.
“The Ohio Redistricting Commission was given a second opportunity to do the right thing: to produce fair and compliant maps; however, the majority-members once again defied the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Supreme Court and put politics over people,” Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement released early Wednesday.
The objections were filed on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and several individuals.
Parties faced a midnight deadline to lay out their exact legal arguments.
The court invalidated the first round of maps and ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to try again.
Justices retained the right to review the second plan.
The stakes are high for three so-far-successful constitutional challenges before the state’s high court.
The court’s ultimate decision could affect the make-up of the Ohio House and Ohio Senate for the next 10 years.
Republicans who control the commission argue new Ohio House and Senate maps meet the court’s order, despite lacking bipartisan support.