Columbus—Last week, a three-panel federal court in Cincinnati ruled that Ohio’s congressional cartography is unconstitutional, disproportionately favoring the party in power.

That means instead of waiting for the 2020 census, we could be getting new lines next month.

• Ohio's congressional map will need to be redrawn due to a federal court ruling
• An OSU professor says turning it into a game will expedite the process
• The professor believes this method will prevent the rigging of the map by one party to stay in power

Rep. Steve Stivers, a Republican who enjoyed the benefits of party-backed maps, weighed in.

"I’d love to see the current lines upheld because I’m invested in those constituents, and they’re invested in me,” said Stivers (R-15).

Rep. Troy Balderson—who edged out his democratic competition in one of the most contentious and gerrymandered November battles— agrees.

“I think it's always fair in the first place... I’m going to work hard for my district no matter where it is,” said Balderson (R-12).

But for Democrats in the state, it feels like every election is a game of Holdem where the deck is stacked against them.

“I hope when we put it all together, and we shake it out, that we’ll have lines where people will be having fair representation, and that people who look like me will have the opportunity to also have someone that’s represented that looks like them,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-3).

The state is now tasked with a unique opportunity to give everyone a fair shake—which means dealing with the mess of the last map.

“All kinds of squiggly lines,” said Richard Gunther, OSU political science professor. “Look at Cuyahoga County split up into four different districts. It’s a mess.”

Gunther says under the new protocol voters set forth with Issue 1, no county can be split more than twice. That will be most evident in the three major cities.

“According to the new criteria that we adopted in 2018, the cities of Cleveland and Cincinnati must remain whole and with regard to Columbus, which has to be broken because its population is too large for one district, one entire district has to be made up of the city of Columbus,” said Gunther.

But there’s a challenge.

We have a set of rules and an objective, but how does that translate to fair maps?

OSU Math Professor Dustin Mixon is introducing a unique solution—by turning the process into a game.

“The objective is to fill as many districts as possible, with the majority of your color. And then how does that shake out at the end of the game? We can finish this game and them maybe see what it looks like at the end?” said Mixon.

How it works:  Each party gets a turn divvying up districts. That ensures no party has a runaway advantage and that the congressional class elected looks like those whom they represent.

“So, I have these two districts, and you have those three districts,” said Mixon.

Mixon says gamifying the process makes for a more bipartisanship, which is what voters wanted to begin with.

Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen.