Ohio Supreme Court rejects Republican-drawn voting district map for fourth time

The Ohio Supreme Court for the fourth consecutive time rejected Republicans’ new voting district maps, setting a firm deadline of May 6th for new maps to be drawn, falling months after the deadline for maps passed.

In a 4-3 ruling on Thursday, the Court rejected the new maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission for a fourth time. According to the Dayton Daily News, “The court had [previously] ordered a de facto reduction in Republican districts by insisting on a proportion of seats that met Ohio voters’ actual preferences in the last few elections.” 

The third plan presented to the Ohio Supreme Court was thrown out because while the maps “technically” met the requirements, the Democratic districts were only blue by a “razor thin” margin, and the maps needed to be made more fair.

The fourth presentation of the maps was rejected because the changes made since the March 28 rejection of the previous iteration did little to solve the issue brought up last time.

As a result of the drawn-out process of map-drawing, and the fact that the maps are now seven months past the deadline for Senate and House maps to be in place, Senate and House candidates will not appear on the primary ballot on May 3. Instead, a second primary will have to be held, likely in August.

Democrat lawmakers blame the delay on Republican gerrymandering. “As Ohio Democrats tour the state to talk about the cost of GOP corruption, there’s no clearer example than Republican gerrymandering that is already costing Ohio millions,” said state party Chair Elizabeth Walters in a press release.