(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants lawmakers to move the state’s May 3 primary or hold two primaries while he continues to defend the Ohio Redistricting Commission in federal and state court.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose also believes it is impossible to hold a full primary May 3.
The commission failed to produce court-ordered legislative redistricting maps last week, and it told the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday it still is working to find maps that follow the court’s order.
The Supreme Court ordered Thursday all seven members of the commission to appear before it in person March 1 for a hearing regarding its failure to comply with the court’s Feb. 7 order to create new, proportional maps.
The commission met Wednesday and Thursday for public hearings on congressional maps, which also have been declared unconstitutional because of gerrymandering to favor Republicans.
Yost’s letter Tuesday to House and Senate leadership called the lack of state and congressional legislative maps an unusual legal problem because legislative district maps have to happen before a ballot.
Tuesday was the legal deadline for LaRose to certify the ballot for the primary, and Yost said a lack of maps meant candidates cannot be certified to county boards of election.
LaRose certified the ballot Tuesday without legislative candidates. The General Assembly gave LaRose power to move deadlines for races impacted by the ongoing redistricting issue.
“The Secretary of State informs me that necessary actions between these deadlines form a ‘critical pathway’ of tasks that take a certain amount of time, and must be done in order," Yost wrote. "He does not feel he can move this deadline and still complete the necessary work prior to May 3, 2022. I have no reason to doubt him.”
LaRose, in a letter sent the same day to Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, outlined several problems with deadlines and responsibilities for his office and county boards of elections as the primary draws closer.
He asked the General Assembly to decide on the next steps and to either move the primary completely or establish two elections.
“As you can see, these are only some of the challenges making it impossible to conduct a complete primary election on May 3, 2022, which includes contests for the Ohio General Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives and political party state central committees,” LaRose’s letter read.
The court ruled Feb. 7 the commission’s second attempt at maps that preserved Republican majorities was unconstitutional and ordered the commission to adopt a new plan, saying if the commission would have used its time more wisely and been committed to working together to find a map that met court guidelines, it could have been accomplished.
The commission’s first maps favored the GOP by 62% in the House and nearly 70% in the Senate. The second set of maps showed 58.3% Republican-leaning legislative districts, above the court-ordered 54%.
The commission includes Republicans Gov. Mike DeWine; Huffman; House Speaker and Commission Co-Chair Bob Cupp, R-Lima; State Treasurer Keith Faber; and LaRose; and Democrats Allison Russo, R-Upper Arlington; and Commission Co-Chair Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron.
