Supreme Court strikes down state redistricting maps for 4th time: What happens next

For months, News Center 7 has covered the state’s struggles to come up with a new redistricting map.

The map will decide who Ohioans get to vote for to represent them at the Statehouse in Columbus.

On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court shot down the latest, and fourth attempt, at state House and Senate maps that were drawn by Republicans, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch.

As part of the 4-3 decision, the court asked the commission to have new maps by May 6, the Dispatch reported. If the Ohio Redistricting Commission is unable to come up with a solution the decision court be in the hands of a trio of federal judges.

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Here’s what Ohioans need to know about the process:

In 2015, voters approved a whole new process that involves a seven-person, bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission. They’re responsible for drawing the lines.

The commission is made up of the governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of State and a Democrat and Republican from both the Ohio House and Senate.

Currently, Republicans have a 5-2 majority on the commission.

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The maps were supposed to be in place before this year’s election cycle, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Right now the process is on hold because, so far, the Ohio Supreme Court has tossed out four sets of maps. First in January, again in February, again in March and most recently on Thursday. Each time, they said the maps did not meet voter-approved provisions of the state constitution to reduce the favoring of one party, noting that they favored Republicans too strongly.

Since new maps haven’t been approved, Ohio House and Senate candidates will not appear on the May 3 primary election ballot. This means that there will need to be another election, possibly in August, that’s estimated to cost taxpayers $20 million.

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