Redistricting Update 4/22/2022

Here is the latest information on the redistricting process in Ohio. Please join us on Thursday, April 28 at 11:30 as we Rally for Fair Maps and Fair Elections! Sign up here.

We are also asking all those who are against gerrymandering to sign our sign-on letter and tell us why you care about fair maps. You can see the statement and sign at this link.

Ohio House and Senate Maps

• After the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a fourth set of Ohio House and Ohio Senate maps on 3/28/2022, the League of Women Voters, et al., filed objections.
• The Ohio Supreme Court struck down this fourth set of General Assembly maps on April 14. Their decision was not a big surprise since the fourth set of maps was nearly identical to the third set that had already been sent out.
• In their decision, the Court gave the Commission until May 6th to come up with a new set of maps. They also indicated that the Commission should start with the maps drawn by the independent mappers.
• On April 20, the panel of three federal judges issued a decision in the lawsuit brought by a group of Republican activists seeking to have struck down maps reinstated by federal courts before the May 3rd primary. They officially gave the Redistricting Commission until May 28 to draw a new set of maps, but at the same time, they indicated that if the Commission did NOT approve a new set of maps, the court would adopt the third set of legislative maps—maps already struck down as unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. 
• Unfortunately, this means that even though the Ohio Supreme Court has told the Commission to create new maps by May 6, and although the panel of federal judges has told them to create new maps by May 28, the Commission is most likely to do nothing at all. They WANT to use the maps that have been struck down as unconstitutional; knowing that’s what they’ll get if they do nothing just incentivizes doing nothing.

Contempt Charges 

• Contempt charges raised by the Ohio Supreme Court were “continued”. The order did not set a new date for the hearing but was postponed indefinitely.
• The contempt cases brought by the LWV and the Elias group were dismissed on April 14.

Congressional Map

• On Friday, 3/18, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision denying the petitioners’ attempt to invalidate the second congressional redistricting plan as procedurally improper. The Court explained that after the first congressional map was struck down, it did not retain jurisdiction over the map-drawing process. Therefore, an entirely new and separate complaint would have to be submitted against the second map. 
• On 3/21, National Redistricting Action Fund filed a new lawsuit challenging the second congressional map. 
• On 3/22, the ACLU & LWV filed an additional lawsuit asking for corrections to two specific districts, not for 2022, but for 2024. 

Thanks again for continuing the fight for Fair Districts!