The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Federal lawsuit sparks action
Commissioners file brief on redistricting suit
The Lake County and Geauga County Boards of Commissioners have filed an amicus brief against the federal lawsuit on Ohio redistricting filed last May by the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute, the League of Women Voters of Ohio and other groups, in addition to private citizens.
A resolution supporting the efforts of the Lake and Geauga commissioners was also passed Jan. 29 by the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners.
The “friend of the court” brief was filed Feb. 6, Lake County Commissioner Jerry Cirino confirmed.
“The court will now determine whether or not to accept the brief for consideration,” he said.
The plaintiffs are asking the federal court to declare the current Ohio Congressional District plan unconstitutional and are proposing a new redistricting plan to take effect for the 2020 election.
The proposed plan, which is part of the lawsuit, would split Geauga County into two districts and remove Lake and Ashtabula
counties from the current 14th District, placing them with Trumbull and a portion of Mahoning counties, including Youngstown.
“The Lake County Board of Commissioners finds this lawsuit to be an attempt by the plaintiffs to disregard the will of the voters who voted overwhelmingly in favor of (Ohio) Issue 1 last May, with just over 74 percent of the vote,” Cirino
said.
“When voters supported the Issue 1 method of determining the districts, it was presumed that we would wait for the 2020 Census to take place and then apply the Issue 1 method. The plaintiffs want this to be changed immediately and that is the primary problem.”
Ohio Issue 1, the Congressional Redistricting
Procedures Amendment, was on the 2018 Primary ballot in May.
The respective boards are not parties to the lawsuit and no motions will be made unless the judge has questions, noted Lake County Prosecuting Attorney Charles Coulson.
Geauga County Commissioner Tim Lennon believes the plan for districts shouldn’t be placed in the hands of a federal court, especially when voters’ actions have determined otherwise.
“The Ohio League of Women Voters, along with other affiliates, including the American Civil Liberties Union (Southern District of Ohio), vehemently supported the adoption of Issue 1 last year,” Lennon said. “This (lawsuit) puts Geauga County directly in the crosshairs.”
“The commissioners are considering collective action because we believe that the plaintiffs’ remedies would disadvantage the voters of our counties and invalidate their overwhelming support of Issue 1,” said Ashtabula County Commissioner Casey Kozlowski.
“We find these issues troubling.”
All three boards, whose commissioners are all Republicans, also detailed “shared history” of the three counties, and believe the lawsuit would serve to diminish the impact of the region’s influence in federal affairs.
Lake County Commissioner Ron Young also questioned the timeliness of the lawsuit.
“The current map was drawn through Ohio House Bill 369 (Congressional Redistricting) in 2011,” he said. “Why wait eight years? It’s nonsensical.
“There were no serious challenges to the passage in the legislature.
“Actions like these are happening all over the country because some people didn’t like the winner of the presidential election,” Young added.
“Elections have consequences. Districts would have looked different, but you don’t take away the people’s power and hand it to an unelected judge. That’s insane.”
Geauga County Commissioner Jim Dvorak concurred with Young, describing the boards’ collective action as unification.
“It’s rare three counties come together and agree on one issue,” Dvorak said.
In a succinct response to the filing of the brief, Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio/Education Fund, said the organization has worked against gerrymandering since the 1970s and 1980s when Democrats were the partisan mapmakers.
“We will always defend the rights of voters to have fair districts, and we see this effort as a continuation of our victory in May 2018 in which nearly 75 percent of voters approved to end gerrymandering,” she added.
“We take that overwhelmingly strong response from voters as a mandate to do everything we can to secure a fair congressional map as quickly as possible.”