Ohio committee misses deadline for new congressional maps

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(The Center Square) – Ohio Republican lawmakers did not offer an option for new congressional maps, and the Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting did not vote on maps presented by Democrats on the deadline to pass new districts.

The committee, with majority Republicans, met for nearly three hours Tuesday listening to testimony. The deadline to adopt bipartisan maps ordered by the courts was missed.

“Republicans are choosing their own political futures and Donald Trump’s agenda over the people of Ohio,” House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said in a statement. "Ohio voters outlined a clear bipartisan process for maps in 2018, and Republicans broke their promises – wasted a month, never even introduced a map, and are running out the clock until they can pass a partisan, gerrymandered map."

The next step in the redistricting process is the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which also has a 6-2 Republican majority.

That group, which consists of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, Senate president, and House speaker – all Republicans, along with the Senate and House minority leaders - has until the end of October to pass maps with Democratic support.

The commission has not announced a date for its first meeting.

If it fails, the General Assembly can pass new congressional districts by a simple majority without any support from Democrats. However, the state constitution requires those maps to comply with anti-gerrymandering provisions, which include no plan favoring or disfavoring one political party and districts must resemble voting percentages from the last 10 years in statewide and federal elections.

Republicans hold 10 of the state’s 15 U.S. House seats. In the last 10 years, Ohioans have voted 54% for Republicans in federal elections. Based on the state constitution, congressional districts should be split 8-7 in favor of the GOP.