In spite of an order from the Ohio Supreme Court, there are still no legislative maps for Ohio.
Democrats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission are pushing hard to get a set of 10-year legislative maps passed that reflect the state's partisan breakdown. After 90 minutes of sharp back-and-forth, Republicans who control the panel voted unanimously to reject it. The drama unfolded Thursday as a court-imposed midnight deadline nears. Now late today, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman issued a statement pinning the blame on Democrats on the redistricting commission
Huffman's statement says, in part, "It is disturbing the final proposal submitted by the Democrat members of the redistricting commission culminated in a textbook case of racial gerrymandering for their partisan gain."
The Ohio Supreme Court has twice declared maps supported by the commission's GOP majority as unconstitutional. That punted the mapmaking job back to the panel to fix. Legislative boundaries need to be redrawn after each U.S. census to reflect a state's population changes.
COLUMBUS—Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) issued the following statement on Democrats partisan racial gerrymander: "It is disturbing the final proposal submitted by the democrat members of the Redistricting Commission culminated in a textbook case of racial gerrymandering for their partisan gain. This is not what voters approved, it is prohibited by both the United States and Ohio Constitutions and is a throwback to the worst chapters of our country’s history. Moving forward, my colleagues believe Ohio’s geography and sprawling population prevent us from achieving a constitutional map that meets proportionality as defined by the four justices of the Supreme Court outlined in their opinion. The Commission has now arrived at an impasse."
