With being charged to draw new state House and Senate maps, the Ohio Redistricting Commission adjourned its meeting Thursday evening without meeting a deadline to submit a third set of maps by the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected the GOP-majority Ohio Redistricting Commission state Senate and House maps…for the second time! And once again, the ruling was 4-3 with Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor (R) siding with the three Democratic justices. The majority wrote: “We made clear that we were invalidating the original plan, in its entirety, under Section 9(B). Yet the commission did not adopt an entirely new plan.”
In another 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the congressional district map by returning it to the Ohio General Assembly, where Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers, and then to the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The two bodies have a combined 60 days to draw new lines that comply with a 2018 constitutional amendment voted overwhelmingly by Ohioans against gerrymandering. Another victory for all Ohioans and voter rights advocates!
On Wednesday, January 12th, in a major victory for voting rights advocates and Democrats who had challenged the maps as unconstitutionally gerrymandered, the Ohio Supreme Court declared the Ohio legislative district maps as invalid in a 4-3 decision.
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