Dem opposition nixes GOP fix for Ohio redistricting glitch
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Ohio’s Republican legislative leaders abandoned plans Wednesday for a fast-moving constitutional amendment that would have allowed deadlines for making state political maps to be extended due to pandemic-related delays in the 2020 census.
Senate President Matt Huffman said his idea, which would have required a three-fifths majority of both legislative chambers by Wednesday, was unworkable because of a lack of support from Democrats.
“I don’t think all hope is lost,” he told reporters, noting the time albeit truncated available to draw the map before a Sept. 15 deadline. “The real question is, if the data and the other things that need to be done can’t be done by Sept. 15, what happens?”
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Ohio's Republican legislative leaders abandoned plans Wednesday for a fast-moving constitutional amendment that would have allowed deadlines for making state political maps to be extended due to pandemic-related delays in the 2020 census.
Editorial: Despite Census delays, Ohio can take steps now to ensure public input in redistricting process
That Ohioans want fairly drawn General Assembly and U.S. House seats is incontestable.
In November 2015, 71% of those voting ratified a state constitutional amendment (H.J.R. 12) to reform how Ohio draws (“reapportions”) its General Assembly districts. And in May 2018, an even greater proportion of those Ohioans voting – 75% – ratified a state constitutional amendment (S.J.R. 5) to reform how Ohio draws its congressional districts, a task known as “redistricting.”
Voters were motivated not just by Ohio’s crazy quilt of gerrymandered districts but also by a perception that political insiders, aided by new computer programs that allowed block-by-block map redrawing, had hijacked what should be a fair, transparent and honest public process.
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