Plans submitted through the website become public record, though only submissions that include both an entire statewide plan and a visual representation of that plan will be published on the state’s site.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate released a statement encouraging Ohioans to participate.
“The launch of the public portal is a welcome step toward transparency in the required redrawing of Ohio’s congressional district lines,” said Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood. “I encourage Ohioans to make their voices heard.”
There’s no concrete timetable as to when lawmakers will come back to Columbus to officially begin the redistricting process, even though the state is staring down a ticking clock when it comes to redrawing its 15 congressional districts.
While most states have a once-a-decade map making process bookended by the decennial census, Ohio’s voter-approved redistricting rules mandate that the state redraw its maps in the middle of the decade if its initial map passed without requisite bipartisan support.
Under those same rules, the Ohio General Assembly has until Sept. 30 to draw a map that gets requisite bipartisan support.
This process will mirror the bill-making process: Lawmakers will draft plans, submit them to their chamber in the form of a bill, those bills will have to work their way through committee vetting, and then a final vote will occur on the chamber floor before sending that same proposal through the same process in the other chamber.
If the legislature fails to meet its deadline, the responsibility falls on a seven-member board known as the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which has until Oct. 31 to pass a map with bipartisan support.
A final contingency plan: If the redistricting commission fails, the responsibility goes back to the Ohio General Assembly, which must pass a map before Nov. 30. This map doesn’t have to have bipartisan approval — partisan support means another temporary map — but support from both sides would make a map more likely to survive a judicial review and it would make those maps last through the next census.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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