The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the third set of state House and Senate maps late Wednesday, effectively ending any hope of a May 3rd primary with both legislative and statewide races. A statement from the commission explaining the manner by which districts were allocated said: "The Commission considered statewide state and federal partisan general election results during the last ten years. Voter rights advocates gather in a church in downtown Columbus, Ohio, for an anti-gerrymandering rally on Sept. 21, 2021. On March 2, 2022, the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a redrawn congressional map in a 5-2 vote along party lines, meaning the map will last for four years. With the threat of a delayed primary and penalties from the Ohio Supreme Court, four Republicans approved a third set of state House and Senate maps over the objections of Democrats and GOP Auditor Keith Faber. In general, a state's redistricting authority can be classified as one of the following:[15], The term gerrymandering refers to the practice of drawing electoral district lines to favor one political party, individual, or constituency over another. Ballotpedia features 411,524 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Visit the Ohio General Assembly Archives for documents from 1997-2014. @media only screen and (min-width: 600px) { Below is the state House map in effect before and after the 2020 redistricting cycle. Voters may feel as though they do not have a meaningful alternative to the incumbent legislator. A concern among voting rights advocates is that the ever-changing nature of Ohio's redistricting process can cause whiplash for voters. [61] The commission approved maps it had drawn, since the Senate map drawn by the independent consultants was not complete at the time of the vote. To verify your voting district, please contact your county's board of elections. analysis by a national expert suggested the maps will tip heavily toward Republican supermajorities continuing in the Ohio House and Senate, with as many as 67 of 99 House districts and 25 of 33 Senate districts likely to . In Gill v. Whitford, decided on June 18, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the plaintiffs12 Wisconsin Democrats who alleged that Wisconsin's state legislative district plan had been subject to an unconstitutional gerrymander in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendmentshad failed to demonstrate standing under Article III of the United States Constitution to bring a complaint. Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. Feb 19, 2022 - Dec 31, 2024 Congress, Feb 19, 2022 - Dec 31, 2024 Seats: 15 Institution: Backup commission Drawn by: Legislature Plan Status: Active But the GOP, which controls every lever of state government in Ohio, is instead moving at break-neck speed on congressional lines that could favor the party in 13 of its 15 districts. The amendment stipulates that 65 of Ohio's counties cannot be split during redistricting (18 can be split once, and the state's five most populous counties can be split twice). Brown, the top Democrat on the state House committee, said he believes Republicans might have been OK with using that loophole all along. The Ohio House Speaker wrote a letter to members of his party claiming "intentional misinformation" and the "myth" of a deadline for congressional redistricting, and signaling an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. [] Accordingly, the statewide proportion of districts whose voters favor each political party corresponds closely to the statewide preferences of the voters of Ohio. Most states are wrapping up their redistricting process, but Ohio's Supreme Court has rejected the Republican-drawn state legislative maps three times for being unconstitutional, leaving candidates, voters and the state's entire voting infrastructure confused about what comes next. Following the 2020 United States Census, Ohio was apportioned 15 congressional districts, one less than the number it had after the 2010 census. LAROSE LEADS REPUBLICANS IN RACE TO CHALLENGE OHIO SEN. SHERROD BROWN, POLL SAYS. The plaintiffs, a group of Republican voters, alleged that "the commission diluted or inflated the votes of almost two million Arizona citizens when the commission intentionally and systematically overpopulated 16 Republican districts while under-populating 11 Democrat districts." "Our bipartisan elections officials were ready to conduct this election on time," LaRose wrote in a letter to lawmakers. Ohio's state legislative redistricting process is in a messy place : NPR That map creates 10 Republican districts, three Democratic districts, and two competitive districts that lean Democratic. It has five competitive districts, with six Republican-leaning districts and four Democratic-leaning districts. Total population tallies include non-voting residents, such as immigrants residing in the country without legal permission, prisoners, and children. The latest in Ohio. "When you try to draw a 54-45 map, you have to, in my opinion, gerrymander for the other side.". There are conflicting opinions regarding the correlation between partisan gerrymandering and electoral competitiveness. The majority opinion was penned by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. How to vote | Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, said there were five House districts and two Senate districts within 49% and 51% and those numberswere better than previously rejected maps. padding-right: 10px !important; There is no current redistricting lawsuit, but Democrats or their allies are expected to file a new challenge this summer seeking new districts before the 2024 election. table #officeholder-table td { On March 2, 2022, the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a redrawn congressional map in a 5-2 vote along party lines, meaning the map will last for four years. With this decision, the state must redraw the map, likely resulting in new majority-black districts that lean heavily Democratic. Members of the House Freedom Caucus, comprising the House's most far-right lawmakers, sought to derail several aspects of the debt limit legislation and continue to complain about the debt ceiling compromise between McCarthy and Biden. text-align: center; However, special interests pressured democrats to not support it, asking voters to extend the deadline to accomplish that.[67], Leading up to the vote, Emilia Sykes disapproved of the maps saying they were overly partisan and she would call it offensive and plain wrong to move forward this map [] to put forth something that so arrogantly flies in the face of what people, our voters, asked us to do, not once, but twice.[52], Commission members Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) expressed disapproval of the maps and said they expected court challenges to follow their vote. UPDATED Jul. Utah Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over G.O.P. Map Splitting Salt Lake An election was considered mildly competitive if it was won by a margin of victory between 5 and 10 percent. But in a statement earlier this week, he bragged that the map keeps seven of the states eight largest cities Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Toledo, Youngtown, Dayton and Canton wholly contained within one district each. This amounted to a net loss of six competitive elections. Plan sponsors requesting to testify in person should submit a completed witness form to: testimony@redistricting.ohio.gov. Republican Gov. Ohio voters in 2018 overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that put guardrails on state legislators ahead of the next redistricting. Copy editing by Santul Nerkar. In total, 16.2 percent of the 3,842 legislative contests studied saw competitive general elections in 2010. Abortion messaging roils debate over Ohio ballot initiative. Backers Ron DeSantis (R-FL). text-align: center; Redistricting 3. Below are the congressional maps in effect before and after the 2020 redistricting cycle. By, Ohio congressional candidates file petitions while elections officials plug-in new maps, Redistricting officials argue for and against Ohio's legislative maps in court filings, Redistricting commission adopts Ohio congressional district map over objections by Democrats. Search Legislation General Assembly : 135th (2023-2024) Filter By : Primary Sponsor Search using the controls above. .partytd.Libertarian { District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States Census. Democrats eye Wisconsin high court's new liberal majority to win Instead, it drove off in the opposite direction entirely," writes Donald McTigue, attorney for the plaintiffs. Because minority groups tend to vote Democratic, critics argue that majority-minority districts ultimately present an unfair advantage to Republicans by consolidating Democratic votes into a smaller number of districts. External Relations: Moira Delaney Hannah Nelson Caroline Presnell COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH) - Ohio has district maps for the state House of Representatives and the Senate, for the moment. That map, of course, was ultimately struck down, putting the ball back in the legislatures court. The court held that the plan, enacted in 2011 by a Republican legislature and governor, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Democrats. How to run for office | Also, the "boundary of each district [must] be a single nonintersecting continuous line." If the legislature proves unable to adopt a new map, a commission will be formed to adopt a map. With a razor-thin majority in the House, Republicans cannot afford to lose a single seat. Ohio House of Representatives District 20 is represented by Terrence Upchurch (D). Opponents threatened to subject the map to a veto referendum. The NDAA, which passed the House last week, is filled with restrictions on abortion access and transgender rights in the military, which could also drive centrist voters away from the Republican Party. U.S. President | By . "[49], The table below details the results of the 2020 presidential election in each district at the time of the 2022 election and its political predecessor district. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER. In regard to the first part of the aforementioned analysis, Kagan went on to note that "a plaintiff succeeds at this stage even if the evidence reveals that a legislature elevated race to the predominant criterion in order to advance other goals, including political ones." Ohio Republicans regroup, postpone congressional map plan after latest