U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says the blame for possibly changing the primary date lands squarely on Republicans.
Republicans have submitted maps three times to the Ohio Supreme Court: two sets of legislative maps and one Congressional map. They’ve all been invalidated by the Court. Democratic leaders and voter rights advocates warned the GOP leaders that would happen before the previous drafts were adopted.
Brown says he was "incredulous" to hear Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) suggest the state split the primary in two.
"As if he didn't have anything to do with that, as if the arrogance and the delay by Republicans isn't costing taxpayers millions of millions of dollars," said Brown, who notes the expense that can incur with an additional primary and the bill already accumulating in court costs.
Huffman, who is on the Ohio Redistricting Commission now in charge of redrawing both the legislative and Congressional maps, says he does not think the state can hold a primary for those races since the districts are still not finalized.
Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) says, with district maps in limbo, he can’t see how Ohio can hold a primary for legislative and congressional races by May 3 @andy_chow reports. pic.twitter.com/Rxt7hnQ9N2
— "The State Of Ohio" PBS News Program (@stateofohioshow) February 9, 2022
Huffman suggested the state could continue with a May 3 primary for local and statewide races and hold the other primary races on a later date.
Ballots for overseas voters are supposed to be mailed out in five weeks.
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