Census Data Fight Complicates Redrawing Of Ohio's Congressional Map

The League of Women Voters of Ohio is opposing a lawsuit filed by Ohio against the decision to hold back Census data till September 30 because of the pandemic and concerns about accuracy. However, the clock is already ticking on starting the process to draw new maps for Ohio’s state House and Senate districts and for the U.S. Congress.

This spring, Ohio will know whether it keeps all 16 members of Congress or it loses one seat because of population changes.

“If we have 15, we can't use the old maps, even if we want to, because they're based on 16 districts," said Common Cause Ohio’s Catherine Turcer, who helped pass the constitutional amendments that changed the way Ohio draws its maps.

The amendment, passed in 2018, sets up a series of deadlines for state lawmakers to approve Congressional maps, with the final deadline being November 30. The amendment passed in 2015 requires state lawmakers’ districts done by September 1, though if they can't get support from the minority party the deadline is September 15.

However, the U.S. Census Bureau recently  pushed back the timeline for providing redistricting data to states until September, in order to complete quality checks that were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and changes from the Trump administration.

So Turcer sees two options: ask the Supreme Court to extend the deadlines or move next year’s May 3 primary. She suspects both might need to happen.

"To create a timeline where the mapmaking is actually doable, we need two things. We need to make sure that there's enough time for mapmaking, and we don't want them to feel the pressure of, 'oh, my gosh, we have to rush because we have this time'. "So it makes sense, actually, to consider doing both," Turcer said. "What doesn't make sense is to just what doesn't make sense is to assume that the census can just turn over data.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued the U.S. Census Bureau to force Census data to be released by March 31, saying in a statement: "Laws cannot be arbitrarily changed by administrative fiat."

Ohio is the first state in the country to sue over the delayed redistricting data.

But some cities, counties and civil rights groups, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio, say they have a deal with the Biden administration not to release data before April 16.

Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.