COLUMBUS – The Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously overnight to approve state legislative district maps.
The vote on a plan that was originally introduced by Republican commission members last Friday followed four public hearings and a number of amendments.
“Tonight we proved that good faith negotiations with our colleagues from both sides of the aisle guided by the process approved by the voters to draw legislative districts can work exactly the way it was intended to work, when not undermined by out-of- state special interest groups,” Senate Majority Whip Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said.
The new maps are poised to last into the 2030 election cycle, pending legal hurdles, and, like their predecessors, give the GOP an advantage statewide.
Despite their votes in favor of the maps, Democrats appear to see it as a necessary compromise, not a win.
“My vote was not a show of support for these maps, but an action to take the process out of the hands of politicians and help move us forward to a direction where the rightful owners of these maps- the people- have the final say,” House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said. “The harsh reality is you can’t un-gerrymander gerrymandered maps when those in control are unwilling to give up unearned power.”
Under the plan, Republicans would have an advantage in roughly 62% of the House seats and 70% of the Senate seats. By contrast, the state’s partisan breakdown, averaged over the period from 2012 to 2020, was about 54% Republican and 46% Democratic. Republicans currently hold a supermajority in each of the state legislative chambers.
“The future of redistricting in Ohio not only deserves to be in the hands of citizens, not politicians, but it must be done in an objective independent process,” said commission co-chair and Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood).
Tuesday’s vote is the latest chapter of the state’s lengthy saga over new political boundaries, riddled with lawsuits and repeated court rulings finding previous maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor the state’s leading Republicans.
The new versions drew criticism from members of the Equal Districts and Fair Districts coalitions, who are working toward approval of a constitutional amendment on the November 2024 ballot that would change the way the commission redraws legislative maps.
“This process that kept the map-making out of the public eye has resulted in rigged maps that help politicians and their friends get re-elected at the expense of Ohio families and communities,” Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, said.
The amendment would replace the current commission with a 15-person citizen-led commission made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents.