As the Ohio Senate rushes toward passage this week of a Republican proposal to overhaul how Ohio’s congressional districts are redrawn, an outside coalition pushing its own plan said Monday it would fight the lawmakers’ plan at the polls. “I think we have no choice,” said Sam Gresham, chairman of Common Cause Ohio and a member of Fair Districts Ohio. “We’ve been out here for years coming up with fair legislative districts. And we passed a proposal in 2015 [for state legislative districts]. We’re not going to give up simply because they’ve put a proposal forward.” Fair Districts is a coalition of government watchdog, labor, and voting-rights organizations. It would have to finance an opposition campaign to convince voters to reject the legislative proposal in May while circulating petitions for its own proposal for November. Should both pass, the second would supersede the first.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 5, sponsored by state Sen. Matt Huffman (R., Lima), is on the fast track for passage in the Senate as soon as this week. Republicans then hope to clear the Ohio House of Representatives before a Feb. 7 deadline to get the question before voters on the spring ballot.
The current map, which took effect in 2012, has yielded 12 Republicans and four Democrats representing Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives. The next, to be drawn in 2021, would likely have 15 districts to fashion because Ohio may lose another representative as a result of weak population growth.
Full Article: Fight ahead between two redistricting plans – The Blade.