Voting rights groups are suing over the state House and Senate district maps by the Ohio Redistricting Commission last week. But the lawsuit is no surprise to the Republican leader who proposed the maps.
Republicans admitted that two-thirds of House and Senate districts in the new maps would favor the GOP. And they said in a statement that follows the 2015 voter approved constitutional directive that the party breakdown correspond closely with Ohio voter preferences, though as an example Donald Trump won with a little more than half the Ohio vote in both 2016 and 2020.
The League of Women Voters of Ohio with the help of the ACLU of Ohio. The lawsuit, filed with the Ohio Supreme Court, claims the Republicans鈥� 鈥渂razen manipulation of district lines鈥� disregards the party split of Ohio voters in the past decade of elections and defies the 2015 constitutional amendment that sought to end extreme partisan gerrymandering.
Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said he expected that.
鈥淚 think those groups, you could probably give them the pen and let them draw the map, and they would still file a lawsuit. So this is just part of the cycle of life," Huffman said.
Huffman鈥檚 spokesman said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed: 鈥淲e are confident the maps approved by the Redistricting Commission are constitutional and compliant.鈥�
that they're not gerrymandered and that Ohioans who voted overwhelmingly to change the process in 2015 can "make their own decisions," and if they don't like the process, "they can go to the ballot and try to change the process."
Huffman and Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima) had inserted into the state budget in the event that the maps for the Ohio House and Senate or for Congress are challenged. by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Legal challenges to the maps may have been predicted, but . In 2011, the maps were challenged. And while they were upheld, Republican Chief Justice Maureen O鈥機onnor voted against those maps, along with fellow Republican Paul Pfeifer and the only Democrat on the court at the time, Yvette McGee-Brown. Now, three of the seven justices are Democrats, and O鈥機onnor is still chief justice.
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