COLUMBUS — With no bipartisan map and no vote, state lawmakers missed their first deadline for Congressional redistricting.
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The Ohio Redistricting Commission must now reconvene, with the new goal of an Oct. 31 deadline, our news partners WBNS-10 TV reported.
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The Joint Redistricting Committee met on Tuesday for the second time this year, with about three hours of testimony from lawmakers and the public focused chiefly on the map proposed by the state’s democrats.
The proposed congressional map still favors Republicans, but gives the party eight seats instead of the current 10, WBNS-10 TV reported.
The Republican Party has yet to put forward a map.
A large part of the discussion during the three-hour hearing was about fairness, and which party’s idea of it was correct, WBNS-10 TV reported.
“The word fairness is not in the Constitution, correct?” asked Sen. Jane Timken (R-Canton) of Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).
“I think it’s pretty difficult to talk about drawing congressional districts and your representative and your voice without talking about fairness,” Antonio responded.
Timken later clarified she was referring to the verbiage in the state Constitution guiding the redistricting process, WBNS-10 TV reported.
At one point, State Rep. Nick Santucci (R-Niles) held up two posters. The first showed how Ohio’s counties voted in the 2024 election, while the second divided those counties into six regions based on the party of elected county commissioners.
“If we take the map that you and your party proposed and we draw it based on that, what do we say? Is it fair to the other folks that live in these communities that this is the map that you’ve given them?” asked Santucci.
“People vote. Land mass doesn’t vote,” responded Antonio. “We have taken into consideration the people’s voice rather than geography.”
Much of the public’s testimony revolved around frustration with gerrymandering and the lack of a map from Republicans to move the comment process forward, WBNS-10 TV reported.
“There’s not a map I know of. We’re conducting hearings as we’re required to do, and that’s where we’re at right now,” Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said when asked if a Republican map exists yet.
To date, there are nearly 90 maps submitted to the state by private citizens and interest groups. Dana Miller, an Oxford resident, is one person who took the time to craft a map for submission, WBNS-10 TV reported.
“I’m on like the third version. I’ve spent probably 40 hours doing these maps,” Miller said.
Miller’s map, submitted two weeks ago, still shows Republicans holding 10 seats in the state, but he said during Tuesday’s testimony that it could be a 9-6 split, WBNS-10 TV reported.
The split would fall directly between the Democrats’ 8-7 proposal and what is currently in place.
“You’ve got to have a balanced population in each district and keeping communities of interest together,” he said.
However, Miller said he is growing frustrated with the process and doesn’t have much faith that this will be much different from the 2023 redistricting.
The Ohio Constitution requires a 60% majority of the General Assembly to pass a redistricting plan by the end of September, WBNS-10 TV reported.
With that plan not coming together, the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission takes over with an Oct. 31 deadline.
If the Ohio Redistricting Commission fails to meet its deadline, then state lawmakers take over with a final Nov. 30 deadline. That deadline doesn’t require the 60% threshold; instead, it needs a 50% majority to pass.
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