Voting Rights Groups Sue Ohio Over Redistricting Map

Politics|Voting rights groups writer Ohio implicit a Republican-controlled revision of authorities voting districts.

• Sept. 23, 2021, 10:06 p.m. ET

The American Civil Liberties Union and different elector rights groups filed a suit connected Thursday challenging the recently drawn authorities legislative districts enacted past week by a Republican-dominated committee successful Ohio, an opening salvo successful what is apt to beryllium a bid of confrontations crossed the state arsenic the once-in-a-decade redistricting process unfolds.

In a suit filed successful the Ohio Supreme Court, the rights groups impeach the Ohio Redistricting Commission of engaging successful “extreme partisan gerrymandering” that violates the state’s constitution successful formalizing the redrawn districts, which the suit says “are intended to, and will, entrench a Republican veto-proof supermajority successful some chambers of Ohio’s General Assembly for the adjacent 4 years.”

Alora Thomas-Lundborg, a elder unit lawyer with the A.C.L.U.’s Voting Rights Project, said that the suit was the archetypal to situation a statewide redistricting representation drawn utilizing the results of the 2020 census. “Ohio whitethorn beryllium the canary successful the ember excavation from what we tin expect from a partisan-dominated map-drawing process,” she said.

The representation was enacted successful a party-line ballot connected Sept. 16, with the commission’s 5 Republicans — including Gov. Mike DeWine; Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Keith Faber, the state’s auditor; and Matt Huffman, the president of the State Senate — prevailing implicit its 2 Democrats. But Mr. DeWine foresaw a ineligible challenge.

“We cognize that this substance volition beryllium successful court,” Mr. DeWine said, according to the ABC transmission News5Cleveland. “I’m not judging the measure 1 mode oregon another, that’s up to a tribunal to do. What I americium definite successful my bosom is that this committee could person travel up with a measure that was overmuch much clearly, intelligibly law and I’m atrocious we did not bash that.”

Ahead of this redistricting cycle, Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved measures amending the authorities Constitution to bounds partisan gerrymandering. A reappraisal by the Ohio Supreme Court of the constitutionality of the caller representation would beryllium the archetypal existent trial of whether the amendment works arsenic intended.

The suit cites a wide, accordant spread betwixt the stock of votes that Republican candidates person drawn and their stock of seats successful the Ohio Legislature implicit the past 10 years.

“Republicans maintained a hammerlock connected supermajority presumption successful elections betwixt 2012 and 2020 — astatine times controlling much than 65 percent of the seats successful the Ohio House of Representatives and 75 percent of the seats successful the Ohio State Senate, adjacent though their statewide ballot stock implicit the decennary ranged from lone 46.2 percent to 59.7 percent,” the suit said, citing official predetermination results.

Two years ago, a federal tribunal tossed out the representation of legislature districts that Ohio had utilized for astir of the past decade, ruling that Republicans had fixed themselves an amerciable partisan vantage that efficaciously predetermined the result of national elections.

Mr. Huffman, the committee subordinate who serves arsenic State Senate president, defended the commission’s representation past week in an sentiment effort successful The Columbus Dispatch and accused detractors of trying to use their ain benignant of gerrymandering.

“The committee representation is some law and compliant with the directives approved nether the Constitutional amendment passed by voters successful 2015,” Mr. Huffman said. “Make nary mistake, peculiar involvement groups tried precise hard to undermine the process by pressuring members to judge alleged ‘representational fairness.’”