Ohio governor, other officials file statements in redistricting case. Here's what we learned
Republican legislative leaders defended maps for new Ohio Statehouse districts, Democrats bashed them and statewide officeholders said they played little role in them, according to new documents filed with the Ohio Supreme Court Friday.
On Sept. 16, five GOP members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission approved maps for the state's House and Senate districts against the wishes of the two Democratic members.
The maps, which would preserve Republicans' veto-proof majority in the Ohio Legislature, were immediately challenged in court. At the heart of these lawsuits is whether mapmakers followed rules, approved by voters in 2015, to limit partisan gerrymandering – defined as manipulating district lines to favor one party over the other.
One key issue is whether those drawing the lines matched statewide voting preferences over the past decade. Over that time, Republican candidates have won about 54% of the vote and Democratic candidates have won about 46%.
Responding to questions about those maps, members of the commission revealed details about how they came to be.
Blame the Democrats
Voter-approved changes to the Ohio Constitution required mapmakers to attempt to match statewide voting preferences when drawing their maps.
How did Republican lawmakers do that? They negotiated, unsuccessfully, with the two Democrats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, according to responses filed by Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp, both Lima Republicans.
The GOP leaders put it this way: "Those negotiations did not produce a compromise 10-year plan because the Democratic members would not modify their proposals to move towards the plan introduced by the Commission even though the plan adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission moved towards the plans proposed by the Democratic members of the Commission."
Ohio Senate budget director Ray DiRossi, in a court filing, picked apart proposed maps offered by Senate Democrats and the Ohio Citizens' Redistricting Commission. The Democratic map had a piece completely surrounded by another district and other constitutional problems, DiRossi concluded.
Blame the Republicans
State Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, said in his responses to written questions that he voted against the proposed map for several reasons, including that it violates the Ohio Constitution and will of the voters. He also said he was excluded from the mapmaking process.
"Senator Sykes, despite being Co-Chair of the Commission, was prevented from participating in the map-drawing process in any way by the Republican members of the Commission, and as such, he cannot identify persons who drafted or created the Proposed Plan or dates on which they were created," he said in response to an interrogatory.
House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, echoed those arguments. She said the proposed plan was drafted in secret and presented to other commissioners "at the last minute."
Blame the new rules
Huffman and Cupp hired a political science professor from Brigham Young University named Michael Barber to evaluate the maps passed by the commission.
His conclusion was that the new rules for drawing districts that voters passed in 2015 were to blame for the way the map looks. Democrats live in dense clusters around Ohio's major cities, and the rules have strict limits on how mapmakers divide those cities and their surrounding counties.
"In other words, the constitutional requirement that districts not span county boundaries unnecessarily means that Democratic voters are going to be clustered together into districts in urban counties that are heavily Democratic," Barber wrote.
He also claimed that the problem with Ohio's 17 swing counties is that most of them (12) border red counties – making it hard to draw either competitive or Democratic-leaning districts.
He used Athens County as an example. Its political party breakdown is 63% Democratic and 37% Republican. But not enough people live there to justify a single state Senate seat.
All of the surrounding counties are "nearly uniformly Republican," and "the Democratic majority in Athens is not large enough to withstand the addition."
Statewide officeholders didn't make the maps
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Auditor Keith Faber and Secretary of State Frank LaRose all admitted they played no role in drafting or creating the state House and Senate maps that they approved early Sept. 16.
"The governor was not involved in the process of drawing the Commission’s proposed or adopted maps," attorneys wrote in interrogatories filed Friday.
LaRose admitted he "attended several impromptu meetings" to try to get the votes needed for a 10-year map but he didn't take notes.
Who made the maps?
Ohio Senate's DiRossi and House Republican staffer Blake Springhetti were the primary mapmakers, according to written responses filed by members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
Huffman wrote: "Mr. DiRossi and Mr. Springhetti assisted in drawing the general assembly districts, with input from himself and Speaker Cupp, and public input."
Huffman said that DiRossi and Springhetti incorporated some suggestions from Democrats in an effort to reach a consensus plan.
DiRossi and Springhetti, along with Senate Democratic senior policy advisor Randall Routt, received a "temporary increase in their regular state salaries to account for the increased time and demand on performing their jobs during redistricting," according to Huffman's testimony.
Was the vote past deadline?
The state House and Senate maps were approved by a 5-2 vote along party lines shortly after the midnight deadline. But statewide officeholders said they weren't paying attention to when the vote took place.
"On the evening of Sept. 15, 2021, the auditor was focused on doing his job as a member of the Ohio Redistricting Commission, not simply watching the clock," he responded in the legal brief. "Thus, he did not keep track of the precise time the vote to adopt the General Assembly plan took place."
DeWine: It's up to the court
DeWine wasn't vehement in his defense of the maps and whether they met the standard of reflecting statewide preferences.
"The governor held the belief that the commission approved general assembly district maps complied with the standards set forth in the Ohio Constitution," DeWine responded. "However, this is a matter of first impression and the governor has clearly stated just before the commission adopted the map. 'I will vote to send this matter forward. But it will not be the end of it. We know that this matter will be in court. I'm not judging the bill one way or another. That's up for, up to a court to do.'"
Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.