(The Center Square) – Gov. Mike DeWine plans to call the Ohio Redistricting Commission together, but a formal announcement has not been made.
With an Oct. 31 deadline approaching for the commission to draw new congressional districts in the state, Democrats want the meeting to take place sooner rather than later.
DeWine spokesmanDan Tierney told The Center Square on Tuesday that the governor does plan for the commission to meet, but has not said publicly when it will be.
Also on Tuesday, Democrat leaders said they want that meeting within the next seven days to give the commission a chance to pass new, bipartisan maps.
The Republican-led General Assembly failed to pass bipartisan maps by the end of September, pushing the process to the commission, which is also majority Republicans.
“It was disappointing to see Republicans shirk their constitutional duty to even attempt to pass a bipartisan map in the month of September, and it now appears Gov. DeWine is taking the same partisan delay approach,” Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said in a statement. “When Ohio voters approved redistricting reform in 2018, they never could have imagined the majority would act in such bad faith so as to entirely refuse to introduce a map or even participate in the bipartisan process.”
The commission consists of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, Senate president, and House speaker – all Republicans, along with the Senate and House minority leaders.
If the commission does not pass bipartisan maps by the end of the month, the General Assembly can pass new maps with a simple majority and without any votes from Democrats.
However, the state constitution requires those maps to comply with anti-gerrymandering provisions, which include no plan favoring or disfavoring one political party and districts must resemble voting percentages from the last 10 years in statewide and federal elections.
Republicans hold 10 of the state’s 15 U.S. House seats. In the last 10 years, Ohioans have voted 54% for Republicans in federal elections. Based on the state constitution, congressional districts should be split 8-7 in favor of the GOP.
