Making A New Map

A scolded Ohio Redistricting Commission returned to work…to re-draw maps of Ohio legislative districts…with its members pledging more transparency this time around, as they face a looming deadline. In what was perhaps a gesture of bipartisan cooperation, Republican House Speaker Bob Cupp, the panel’s chair, wore one of the face masks against COVID-19 that have tended to divide Republicans and Democrats at Ohio’s Statehouse. We reported…the state Supreme Court ordered the panel to reconstitute when it tossed Republican-drawn maps in a decision last week. It gave the panel 10 days to create new boundaries that more closely reflect the state’s 54% Republican, 46% Democratic political divide. The maps, as passed, were predicted to again deliver supermajorities in both chambers to the GOP. The court’s majority agreed with voting-rights and Democratic groups that had challenged maps drawn and approved by Republicans as an extreme partisan gerrymander.