Fourth Ohio redistricting attempt rejected

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A divided Ohio Supreme Court issued an extraordinary fourth rebuke Thursday of the state’s Republican-controlled redistricting panel, declaring map-makers’ latest maps for Statehouse districts yet another partisan gerrymander.

By a vote of the same bipartisan 4-3 majority that ruled against the previous three maps, the court ordered the defiant Ohio Redistricting Commission back to the drawing board. It set a May 6 deadline for completing the next plan.

That date falls after a Wednesday deadline set by a federal court for ironing out differences between the court and the commission. It wasn’t immediately clear how the ruling would affect the U.S. District Court’s path forward. Voting in the May 3 primary has already begun without legislative races listed.

In Thursday’s ruling, the court said the commission’s latest plan still violates a 2015 constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly by Ohio voters. That amendment says the panel must attempt to avoid partisan favoritism and also must try to distribute districts to reflect Ohio’s political makeup, which is split at about 54% Republican and 46% Democratic.

Republicans argued that the fourth set of maps — like three earlier versions — met those requirements.

The plan was adopted in a flurry just hours before the last court deadline. The commission’s Republican majority left the work of two independent map-makers hired during that round on the cutting-room floor, on the grounds that their work couldn’t be done in time.

“The independent map drawers’ efforts were apparently little more than a sideshow — yet more fodder in this political sport,” Justice Michael Donnelly wrote in his concurring opinion.