MAPPING OHIO POLITICS
Who’s drawing new electoral maps and why?
In 2015 Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment creating a bipartisan commission to draw new state legislative maps, in an effort to reduce partisan gerrymandering. In 2018 voters approved another amendment on how to draw new district maps for Ohio’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Reflecting state government’s current makeup, the Ohio Redistricting Commission has five Republican and two Democratic members.
New districts for both the Ohio General Assembly and U.S. House seats must be drawn based on the results of a new U.S. Census. The 2020 census resulted in Ohio losing one of its 16 current U.S. House seats. The release of census data was also delayed four months by COVID-19, which some commission members blamed for the group’s slow progress.
So what is the redistricting process?
For Ohio House and Senate seats, the redistricting commission faced a Sept. 15 deadline to agree upon new maps. The body held public hearings around the state but negotiated in private. If they approved a map with support from at least two members of each party — in effect, requiring support of both Democratic members — it would be valid for a decade, until the next census. If the commission approved maps without bipartisan support, it would have to be redone in four years.
For U.S. House seats, the General Assembly had until Sept. 30 to draw a new district map. But legislators made little or no attempt to do so, which sent the task back to the redistricting commission. Under the 2018 amendment, the commission has until Oct. 31 to agree on a map. If it doesn’t do so, it reverts to the General Assembly with a Nov. 30 deadline.
Where do things stand now?
Commissioners barely met the deadline for new Ohio House and Senate maps, approving them at midnight Sept. 15. But they passed on a 5-2 vote without Democratic support. That means the process must be redone in four years. Already three lawsuits have been filed arguing that the maps remain gerrymandered to maintain the Republican supermajority in both House and Senate.
Two public hearings are required for approval of new congressional district maps. The redistricting commission has held one, but members acknowledge they won’t meet the Oct. 31 deadline. Now the General Assembly steps back in; if legislators can create a 15-district map that garners a three-fifths overall majority and support from one-third of Democrats, it will be valid for a decade. If not, they can accept a map by simple majority vote without bipartisan support. But, like the state district maps, it would then have to be redone in four years.