How Ohio’s new US congressional map sprinted into law
COLUMBUS (AP) — Congressional redistricting is the arcane but consequential process of redrawing U.S. House districts every 10 years, which often goes unnoticed by citizens.
This week, a final congressional map for Ohio sprinted through the Legislature and was signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on Saturday — all in less than five days. The map only received Republican support, meaning it will endure for only four years, not a whole decade as the process envisions.
The new Ohio map includes six safe Republican seats, two safe Democratic seats and seven seats Republicans say are competitive, but which voting rights groups, Democrats and academics say still lean the GOP’s way. The state lost one of its current 16 congressional seats due to its lagging population recorded in the 2020 census.
Maps that are drawn to overly advantage one political party, called gerrymandering, have played a role in heightened, even deadly, tensions on display in the U.S. in recent years, as Americans feel unheard by their government, said University of Cincinnati political scientist David Niven.
“I am absolutely aware that gerrymandering is kind of abstract, and it invites a certain eye glaze when you start talking about it,” Niven said, “but it also touches every single issue that you care about.” HOW WAS THE SYSTEM
SUPPOSED TO WORK?
In Ohio, voters approved a new system beginning this year that was supposed to ensure meaningful participation by both parties in a fairer, more transparent map-drawing process. The result would be maps that didn’t pack together, crack apart or otherwise manipulate voter blocs to “unduly” favor one party or its incumbents.
Under Issue 1, a 2018 constitutional amendment approved by almost 75% of voters, the state Legislature could adopt a 10-year map with 60% of members in both the Ohio House and Ohio Senate, including 50% of Republicans and 50% of Democrats.
If they failed, the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission, created under a similar 2015 amendment aimed at reforming legislative districting, would get its chance. If that panel failed to pass a bipartisan map, legislators would get another chance. On the second go-round, support from only a third of each major party’s members was required for a 10-year plan.
If all that failed, a 4-year map — the one Ohioans now ultimately have — could be passed by a simple majority, along party lines.
DID DELAYED CENSUS
RESULTS CAUSE THE RUSH?
Yes and no. Typically, Ohio and other states would have received their updated population figures on April 1. Instead, coronavirus-related delays pushed back their arrival by more than four months.
Ohio Republicans took action early to address the problem. Attorney General Dave Yost sued in March to try to force earlier release of census figures. A federal judge nixed the lawsuit, although a later negotiation did accelerate things somewhat. In May, GOP Senate President Matt Huffman, an author of Issue 1 with huge sway in the process, proposed a fast-moving constitutional amendment that would have lengthened redistricting deadlines on a one-time basis. But Democrats balked and the plan was scrapped.
Still, a coalition of voting-rights and labor groups argued back in April that much could have been accomplished even without the data. That included releasing planning and research funds, launching public websites, appointing committee members and holding hearings featuring political science, mapping, data, legal and voting rights experts, as well as members of the public. The first public hearing on either a legislative or congressional map was held Aug. 23.