Government & Politics

Ohio Redistricting Commission running short on time for new legislative maps

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Jo Ingles

Published March 28, 2022 at 2:59 PM EDT

The Ohio Redistricting Commission meets on the morning of March 28, 2022.

Today is the deadline for the Ohio Redistricting Commission to pass a fourth set of legislative maps to satisfy the Ohio Supreme Court.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says he thinks the maps should be passed by midnight tonight.

“The court order says we are supposed to approve a map. The court order does not provide for a continuance of that time. So the goal has to still be to get a map," DeWine says.

DeWine wouldn’t say if he would vote for the maps if a plan is presented today.

Mapmakers Michael McDonald (left) and Douglas Johnson (right) give a status report to the Ohio Redistricting Commission on March 24, 2022.

Two outside mapmakers have been working for days on legislative maps but so far, members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission have not liked what they’ve seen. This is the first time the commission has used mapmakers to come up with maps. A federal court is considering whether to allow the May 3 election to go forward using maps supported by Republicans that have already been ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.