GOP, Dems making proposals, counters

11th-hour negotiations underway on new Ohio legislative map

COLUMBUS » The powerful new redistricting panel tasked with drawing Ohio’s new legislative districts remained at an impasse late Wednesday, with Republican

Gov. Mike DeWine touting “significant progress” in negotiations even as the odds of meeting a midnight deadline narrowed.

The Ohio Redistricting Commission was in an hourslong recess for most of the day and into the night as Republicans and Democrats shuttled proposals and counterproprosals among themselves for district boundaries based on results of the 2020 census.

Both Democratic members of the seven-member panel, otherwise made up of Republicans, must agree to any new map for it to span the next 10 years. Otherwise, the maps would last for only four years.

DeWine said the objective is to come up with a map both parties could agree on.