COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Sunday, two independent mapmakers, hired by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, presented Ohio House and Senate plans.
Each mapmaker said the maps meet statewide voter preferences over the last 10 years, which is 54% Republican and 46% Democrat. However, Republicans said the maps do not take incumbents into account.
The disagreements have the parties split whether they can achieve the goal by the court's deadline.
"Can they draw constitutionally compliant maps? Yes, it is not as difficult as some of my fellow commissioners want to indicate that it is. The challenge is finding agreement on what you will vote for, get enough votes to get a map out of the commission," said Ohio House Minority Leader Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington.
.@Russo4Ohio: "I think the tactic here has been to stall. That has long been the tactic. So I'm not surprised. Is it frustrating? Yes because here we are a fourth time. But I'm not surprised that that seems to be some of the feelings." @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/YZF6CO37qw
— Josh Rultenberg (@JoshRultNews) March 28, 2022
"We are making an effort to have new maps and meet the court's requirement. Whether or not that is a reasonable time, I guess one can debate about it," said Ohio House Speaker Rep. Robert Cupp, R-Lima.
The deadline for this latest round of maps is 11:59 p.m. Monday.
The last time the commission failed to adopt new maps, commissioners faced contempt of court charges.
However, the contempt hearing was ultimately dismissed when the commission adopted new maps a week later.
With the uncertainty surrounding when legislative candidates will have a primary, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he wants the federal court to know what is and is not possible.
.@FrankLaRose is submitting a filing to the federal court Monday about election administration. It will say if court decides it wants the 3rd set of GA maps, they should know they cannot be used in the May 3rd primary and the court should move the primary. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/BQZFrwz6qo
— Josh Rultenberg (@JoshRultNews) March 28, 2022
LaRose, a defendant in a federal lawsuit over the third set of legislative maps, said if the court's three-judge panel agrees to re-institute the maps, then they still cannot be used in the May 3 primary.
The Ohio Supreme Court previously rejected the maps because the justices said they unfairly favored the Republican Party.
However, a group of Republican voters want them used, anyway.
"What we would be submitting, humbly for their consideration, is that if that is the direction they wanted to take, what they should then look at is a later date for the election," LaRose said. "Again, at their discretion, something like May 24th, which would buy a few extra weeks and allow us ample time to get those new ballots produced, out to our overseas military voters and then be ready for the start of early voting as well."
While LaRose will submit this filing Monday, the next hearing on the matter will not be until Wednesday.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission has less than 24 hours to draw and adopt new legislative maps. So far, there is not a consensus if that will happen.