NRAF-Supported Voters File Objections to Ohio Redistricting Commission’s 5th Set of Gerrymandered State Legislative Maps
Contact
Brooke Lillard
Lillard@redistrictingaction.org
NRAF-Supported Voters File Objections to Ohio Redistricting Commission’s 5th Set of Gerrymandered State Legislative Maps
Washington, D.C. – Today, NRAF-supported voters filed objections in the Ohio Supreme Court to the fifth set of state legislative maps passed by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The Ohio Supreme Court has struck down all previous sets of state legislative maps passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission as partisan gerrymanders. This time, the Commission again ignored the Court’s order to submit an entirely new plan and instead recycled a set of maps that have already been invalidated as partisan gerrymanders that violate the state constitution. Similar to earlier sets of the same maps, the Commission passed the fifth set of maps with only Republican support and bipartisan opposition.
“It is no secret that the Republican commissioners are determined to make a mockery of the laws they are supposed to uphold in order to achieve fair redistricting, which Ohioans overwhelmingly asked for just a few years ago” said Marina Jenkins, the NRAF’s Director of Litigation and Policy. “The Commission had a compliant map before them that could have been adopted with bipartisan support in a quick manner to meet the already-delayed deadline for new maps. Instead, the Republican Commissioners did not pretend to comply. They didn’t bother to alter a single line, opting instead to re-adopt a previously-invalidated map. In the face of this utter defiance of their duty and obligations to follow the law, the Ohio Supreme Court must take action. Now is the time for the judicial branch to enforce the laws that are on the books.”
Click here to view the petitioners’ objections.
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