COLUMBUS, Ohio — This weekend, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Rose released the next steps for the May 3 primary election. Now, he's directed counties to include general assembly candidates on the ballot.


What You Need To Know

  • Legal Analyst Rory Riley-Topping said moving forward before seeing if there's any objections to maps submitted, muddies the waters
  • There may be more uncertainty now, since the Ohio Supreme Court hasn't ruled if the re-drawn maps are constitutional
  • Those in opposition to the maps have until Monday to file any actions that they have with them

The decision comes after Thursday's adoption of new House and Senate maps from the Ohio Redistricting Commission, but the maps haven't yet been approved by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Spectrum News 1 legal analyst Rory Riley-Topping believes moving forward with those election plans is not the most advisable thing to do.

“The last decision that was issued by the Ohio Supreme Court stated that they retained jurisdiction over the matter, and that they weren't going to review any subsequent maps for their constitutionality,” she said. “Now, the maps that were drawn last week have been submitted to the Ohio Supreme Court. They haven't ruled on those yet. And in part, that's because those in opposition to the maps have until Monday to file any of the actions that they have to them.

“So, moving forward before we go through that process of seeing if there are any objections on Monday and having the court rule because of the fact that they retain jurisdiction, it potentially muddies the waters for them to be moving forward before knowing with certainty that these are the maps that we're going to use and that they pass constitutional muster.”

With a number of unanswered questions, things remain unclear for voters in the springtime and candidates who may not know their districts.

Riley-Topping said while people are eager to move forward, because they'd like to know who they are voting for and what district they will represent, it could make things tougher.

“Because we haven't gone through all the steps in the process, it could get and make things potentially more uncertain because people could be taking steps to move forward based on these maps and if the court comes back and says no, these maps aren't constitutional, either or sustained some of the objections from the opposing parties, then we don't know that,” she said. “These are the districts that are going to stand going forward. So the main takeaway is that it just creates more uncertainty for both voters and candidates in Ohio.”

Riley-Topping believes there will likely be a primary election in May, but the question remains if it will include House legislative districts.

“It's important to acknowledge at this point, we don't know whether the maps are constitutional or not,” she said. “It's possible that the court could uphold, that they are based on their review. It's also possible that they could not. So we really need to wait and see what the court says based on these specific maps. So, in that regard, as far as the May primary goes, we're going to have a primary no matter what, I think.”