As expected, the fourth set of House and Senate maps approved by four Republicans on the seven member Ohio Redistricting Commission is being challenged by the voter advocacy groups that have protested the first three.
The groups say the fourth set of legislative maps is nearly identical to the third set, which the Ohio Supreme Court has already struck down as unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
The four Republicans made some tweaks to the third set of maps and approved them on Monday, scrapping the plans that outside mapmakers hired for nearly $100,000 had worked up. House Speaker Bob Cupp said those mapmakers weren’t able to produce a recommended set of maps by Monday’s deadline.
The groups say the Ohio Supreme Court should order new maps by April 20, which is the date a panel of three federal judges is watching – and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative asks the court to implement the outside mapmakers’ maps and hold the redistricting commission members who voted for these fourth maps in contempt.