The Ohio Supreme Court once again rejected legislative maps that Republicans drew to disproportionately favor their candidates, sending mapmakers back to the drawing board and Ohio’s primary into massive uncertainty.
For the second time, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, joined with three Democratic justices to reject state House and Senate approved by Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission over Democrats’ objections.
The court gave the commission until Feb. 17 to approve a new map that reflects the 54% Republican, 46% Democrat voting preferences split over the past decade.
“The revised plan does not attempt to closely correspond to that constitutionally defined ratio. Our instruction to the commission is – simply – to comply with the Constitution,” the opinion said.
Ohio Senate GOP spokesman John Fortney said Ohio faces “a constitutional crisis and election system chaos. Candidates have no specific direction regarding the districts for their campaigns and voters face the uncertainty of additional court ordered gerrymandering.”