Democratic voters in Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the state’s congressional map, which they argue was drawn by Republicans behind closed doors with the intention of giving the GOP an outsized advantage.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two organizations and voters from each of Ohio’s 16 congressional districts. The plaintiffs argue the voting boundaries are unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders that violate the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.
They want the court to block the current congressional map from being used in the upcoming election, requiring a new map be implemented.
“Politicians have shamelessly and repeatedly flouted the will of voters with their partisan manipulation of the election process,” Alora Thomas-Lundborg, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The Ohio map was specifically drawn to create an unfair advantage to one political party — Republicans — but gerrymandering is wrong no matter what party does it. Voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”
In a statement responding to the ACLU’s lawsuit, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted questioned the timing of the suit.
“If the way the congressional lines were drawn was such an issue for the ACLU, A. Philip Randolph Institute and League of Women Voters, why did they wait six years to file a lawsuit challenging the maps?” Husted said in a statement. “These groups should respect the will of Ohio’s voters who overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment earlier this month that established a new, bipartisan process for drawing congressional districts starting in 2021.”
The lawsuit filed Wednesday comes as the Supreme Court is poised to hand down major decisions in two partisan gerrymandering cases.
The first, out of Wisconsin, is a challenge to the state’s legislative map, while the second, out of Maryland, focuses on the drawing of a single congressional district.
Decisions from the court in both cases are expected by the end of June and could have a significant impact on future elections and how voting boundaries are drawn.
The ACLU characterizes the current Ohio voting map, drawn after the 2010 Census, as “one of the most egregious gerrymanders in recent history,” as it was created to entrench Republicans in power.
Republicans currently hold 12 of the 16 seats in Ohio’s congressional delegation.
“Rather than reflecting voters’ dynamic or evolving preferences, elections under gerrymandered systems systematically lock in candidates from the legislators’ preferred party and discourage electoral competition,” the complaint says. “In Ohio’s case, this ensures that Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats in Ohio’s congressional delegation.”
Ohio voters this month approved a ballot initiative that changes the state’s redistricting process to require more bipartisan input. Under the initiative, the lines of Ohio’s congressional districts must be approved by 60 percent of each state legislative chamber. If they can’t agree, a bipartisan commission would step in to draw a map.
The new process, though, doesn’t take effect until the next round of redistricting after the 2020 Census.
