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Ohio Supreme Court's timeline for Congressional map challenge likely means map stays for this year

The Ohio supreme Court main courtroom
Daniel Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
The Ohio supreme Court main courtroom

The Ohio Redistricting Commission tweaked a set of House and Senate maps that had been previously ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered and submitted them for the Ohio Supreme Court’s review Monday night. And Tuesday, the court moved forward on challenges to the congressional map approved earlier this month.

The Ohio Supreme Court consolidated the two cases that are challenging that map as unconstitutionally gerrymandered, and set filing deadlines into late May. But no courtroom arguments were set – which means that map will be used for the 2022 election year unless a federal court intervenes.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate maps approved by the Redistricting Commission late Monday are now awaiting review by the Ohio Supreme Court – and right now those districts aren’t set for the May primary ballot. While the commission had hired outside mapmakers with a livestream for people to watch the process, Republicans ended up just approving changes to a previous set of maps drawn by GOP staffers.