Press Release

Ohioans have been waiting since 2015 for fair state legislative maps and continue to put pressure on the Ohio Redistricting Commission.

Earlier today, the Ohio State Supreme Court struck down gerrymandered Ohio House and Senate maps for an astonishing fourth time. The court’s decision is no surprise since these maps were nearly identical to the previous set of Ohio General Assembly maps that had already been ruled unconstitutional by the court.

In open defiance of the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Supreme Court, a majority of the GOP members of the Commission jettisoned the work of the bipartisan, independent mapmakers and—hours before the deadline—switched in and officially adopted a set of maps based on General Assembly maps previously struck down by the Court.

Late last night, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down gerrymandered state legislative maps adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission on February 24, 2022. The court found the invalid maps were drawn to unduly favor the Republican party and thus violated Ohio’s new redistricting rules added to the Ohio Constitution in 2015.

The Fair Districts Ohio coalition rejects the claim that the latest congressional map adopted along party lines by the Ohio Redistricting Commission meets the requirements set forth in the Ohio Constitution.

“It doesn’t make sense to put the cart before the horse,” said Catherine Turcer, Common Cause Ohio Executive Director. “Scheduling an election before voting maps are in place, before districts are in place simply causes confusion. Ohio is not ready to start planning for an accurate election until we have fair maps in place.”