May 5, 2022- 7:18 p.m.
Facing a Friday morning deadline to submit a fifth set of state House and Senate maps to the Ohio Supreme Court, the Ohio Redistricting Commission will instead resubmit a plan adopted during the third round of the redistricting fight that was eventually struck down by the court.
The commission approved a motion to resubmit the plan in a 4-3 vote with Auditor Keith Faber joining Democrats in opposing the idea.
Members of the public at the commission’s meeting chanted “hold them in contempt” after the vote.
Democrats said they believe members of the commission could be held in contempt of court for not following the court’s order to adopt a new map.
Democrats proposed a map that was based on a plan crafted by independent mapmakers during the fourth round of redistricting.
The commission voted against the proposal along party lines Thursday after rejecting a proposal Wednesday to rehire those independent mapmakers.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose told commissioners it’s not possible to hold a primary election for state House and Senate candidates on August 2 with any map other than the third plan.
All but two counties already got a head start on implementing those maps after they were adopted in February, LaRose said.
He picked Aug. 2 as the most viable option to hold a primary without interfering with the general election.
Thursday marked three weeks since the Supreme Court ordered the commission to get back to work. Wednesday, 20 days after the ruling, was the group’s first meeting, despite multiple requests from Democrats to reconvene.
The two Republican legislative leaders, Speaker of the House Robert Cupp and Senate President Matt Huffman, withdrew from the redistricting process this week and appointed other lawmakers to sit in their place. They had controlled the previous rounds of map drawing for Republicans.
A panel of three federal judges previously gave Ohio until May 28 to settle redistricting disputes.
If that’s not the case, they will force the state to use the maps adopted during the third round of mapmaking.
