Ohio’s Supreme Court once again struck a set of state Legislature maps Thursday, sending state mapmakers scrambling as the possible August primary date looms.
The new maps unfairly favored Republicans, the court ruled in a 4-3 decision ordering the Ohio Redistricting Commission to develop a new slate of maps for the state House and Senate by May 6.
“The independent map drawers’ efforts were apparently little more than a sideshow — yet more fodder in this political sport,” Justice Michael Donnelly wrote in a concurring opinion. “The Ohio Redistricting Commission is independent in theory only. Indeed, the commission’s plans in these cases have consistently been drafted by the majority party’s political staffers to the exclusion of the minority party.”
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Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor joined her liberal colleagues in the decision. The three other Republicans on the court dissented.
Republicans on the redistricting commission had passed the maps for the state House and state Senate after the high court ruled the prior ones were unconstitutional. But the new maps too closely mirrored the stricken ones, the court concluded in the Thursday ruling.
The court cited an analysis from Michael Latner, an expert the petitioners put forth, who concluded Republicans would win 53% of state House seats if they achieved a 50% statewide vote share under the House map. This was the same estimate he reached in his analysis on the prior map tossed by the high court.
The Republican-dominated seven-member commission approved the maps March 28 despite opposition from GOP Auditor Keith Faber and its two sole Democrats. The commission’s four other Republicans argued the fourth set adhered to proportionality requirements from the court and the Ohio Constitution.
Last month, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered county election boards to remove candidates for state Legislature races from the May 3 primary ballots in response to the lack of approved maps for the competitions. As a result, Ohio is mulling an August primary for state Legislature races, which could cost taxpayers $20 million, per WHIO.
Ohio’s congressional and Senate primaries are still slated to take place May 3, as the state has a disputed congressional map from the commission in effect. Late last month, Ohio’s Supreme Court announced it would not take up a challenge to the congressional map until after the May 3 primary.
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Three federal judges will set the new primary date if the state’s leaders fail to do so prior to April 20, Cincinnati.com reported.
The state’s high court suggested that the redistricting commission consult an outside mapmaker for the new maps.
