Innovation Ohio

What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy

Equal Districts Coalition Condemns Move to Let ONLY Republicans Intervene in Lawsuits

COLUMBUS — Today, the Equal Districts Coalition — a unified group of several prominent Ohio advocacy organizations engaged in the 2021 redistricting fight — condemned a last-minute budget amendment from Senate President Matt Huffman that would allow only Republicans to intervene in cases challenging newly-drawn maps. 

“This is a partisan power grab, plain and simple. Rather than spending time right now to set up and prepare for our redistricting process — including convening the Commission and passing required public engagement legislation — the Republican supermajority is instead focused on legislating how best to tilt the scales of our process to favor one party over the other,” said Katy Shanahan, Ohio State Director for All On The Line Ohio.

President Huffman’s amendment would let Republican legislative leadership intervene on behalf of both the legislature and the Redistricting Commission. It would also allow them to hire private legal counsel — on the public dime -— to represent them in court. The amendment does not allow Democratic caucus leaders, Democratic members of the Commission, or any other individual or group of legislative members to do the same.

“In 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported reforms to ensure that both Republicans and Democrats have a say in how district lines are drawn. Instead of respecting voters’ wishes, the Senate Republican supermajority is actively trying to cheat the new system,” said Desiree Tims, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio.

This change comes as a last-minute addition to Ohio’s massive operating budget bill, which is thousands of pages long and months into its legislative process. The bill has already passed the House and is scheduled to pass the Senate today, leaving no time whatsoever for public testimony. 

“No matter our differences, we Ohioans deserve to have our voices heard. The Republican supermajority’s amendment would let them use tax dollars to do the exact opposite of what the people told them to do. They want to use our money to silence Black, brown, and other marginalized communities who are not fairly represented in the map-making process. Without fair representation, our issues are not prioritized. It’s shameful and unacceptable,” said Prentiss Haney, Co-Executive Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative.

The Equal Districts Coalition urges Ohioans to contact Statehouse leaders to demand this provision be removed from the budget during Conference Committee:

The Equal Districts Coalition includes the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Environmental Council, Innovation Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, the Ohio Student Association, ProgressOhio, All On the Line-Ohio, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Education Association, CAIR-Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, URGE – Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, LEAD Ohio, the Ohio Women’s Alliance, and more.

More information — from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission:

Equal Districts Coalition Strongly Opposes Proposal to Shorten, Weaken Ohio Redistricting Process

COLUMBUS — Today, the Equal Districts Coalition — a unified group of several prominent Ohio advocacy organizations engaged in the 2021 redistricting fight — announced strong opposition to Senate President Matt Huffman’s proposal to give Statehouse leaders complete power to unilaterally determine Ohio’s redistricting schedule, creating the potential to cut back on public engagement opportunities.

“Ohioans voted twice, with powerful majorities, to make our redistricting process more open, accessible, and fair. The people demanded to play a key role in drawing district lines,” said Desiree Tims, President and CEO of Innovation Ohio. “Ohio must respect the voters’ wishes and maintain a redistricting timeline that allows everyone’s voice to be heard.”

President Huffman’s proposed constitutional amendment would allow Ohio’s legislature to change redistricting deadlines anytime Census data is delayed. Because the legislature is currently dominated by a supermajority of Republican members, this would likely create scenarios where one party has unilateral control over redistricting deadlines. This stands in direct opposition to the intent of the ballot reform measures that Ohio’s voters overwhelmingly passed in 2015 and 2018.

“No matter where we’re from or what we look like, our votes should count. We cannot allow selfish politicians to take electoral power away from the people. That’s exactly the problem Ohioans were attempting to solve with these new redistricting laws,” said Prentiss Haney, Co-Executive Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. “Gerrymandering has allowed certain politicians to rig district maps and election outcomes for far too long, diluting the power of Black and brown voters. We cannot condone any proposal that would take Ohio back in that direction.”

Ohio has known for well over two months that the state will receive its redistricting data by September 30, 2021. While this presents some challenges connected to meeting Ohio’s constitutionally-mandated redistricting deadlines, it does not change the fact that voters overwhelmingly demanded these new deadlines — and the related timeline — in two recent elections.

“When a bipartisan group of legislators and advocates came to the negotiation tables in 2015 and 2018, everyone agreed about the essential nature of ensuring a fair redistricting process. Missed deadlines, even those caused in part by the global pandemic, cannot and should not be used as an excuse to resurrect the political games of the past,” said Heather Taylor-Miesle, Executive Director of the Ohio Environmental Council. “We call on Ohio lawmakers to follow through on Ohio voters’ decisive mandate to end partisan gerrymandering and to ensure a thorough and transparent redistricting process.” 

The census delay is absolutely not an excuse to cut corners in terms of how transparent or how inclusive the redistricting process is. “To best mitigate the impacts of the delay, we need to preserve as much of the existent redistricting process as possible – with an emphasis on maintaining ample opportunities for public engagement. As it stands, however, Senate President Huffman’s proposal is a complete non-starter,” said Katy Shanahan, Ohio State Director of All On The Line. 

The Equal Districts Coalition includes the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Environmental Council, Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Student Association, ProgressOhio, All On the Line-Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, URGE – Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, LEAD Ohio, the Ohio Women’s Alliance, and more. 

Equal Districts Coalition: Don’t Shortchange Ohioans By Gutting Redistricting Process

Delays in Census data are no excuse for limiting robust, transparent map-drawing process that leads to fair maps

Today, a new coalition of Ohio organizations announced their opposition to any attempts to shorten or minimize opportunities for the public to weigh-in on the redistricting process. The Equal Districts Coalition includes the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP, the Ohio Environmental Council, Innovation Ohio, the Ohio Student Association, ProgressOhio, All On the Line-Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, URGE – Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, LEAD Ohio, and the Ohio Women’s Alliance.

This coalition strongly opposes any attempt to use the delay in the Census data to limit the redistricting process. Such a change would be a direct contradiction of the will of the Ohio voters who overwhelmingly passed redistricting reform in 2015 and 2018. 

“We have all had to make adjustments during this pandemic to ensure our families and communities have what they need,” said Innovation Ohio President Desiree Tims. “It is important that Ohio elected officials step up to the challenge and not cut corners when it comes to making sure that every person counts in our democracy.”

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s lawsuit that attempted to force the US Census Bureau to send incomplete redistricting data to the states. From the start, Ohio’s lawsuit has been a misguided attempt to cut corners at the expense of Ohio voters – the US Census Bureau needs as much time as necessary to ensure that the 2020 Census count is complete and that the redistricting data is as accurate as possible. 

“Our priority is to protect the public’s ability to participate in how the maps are drawn and how their communities will be represented. For the last decade, Ohioans have been denied any real political representation because of our gerrymandered districts,” said Tom Roberts, President of the Ohio State Conference of the NAACP. “In 2015 and 2018, we came together to demand a redistricting process centered around injecting the people’s voice into how our districts are drawn. We will not negotiate away our ability to engage in a robust, transparent redistricting process that gives us fair, representative maps as a result.”

We now know – like we have known for the last month – that Ohio will receive its redistricting data by September 30, 2021. This certainly presents some challenges for the state given our constitutionally-mandated deadlines by when new maps are due. What the delay underscores, however, is that Ohio’s elected leaders need to begin the necessary work to prepare for redistricting immediately. 

“There is no time to waste in preparing for the monumental task of redrawing our district boundaries for the next decade and ensuring every Ohioan can have an equal voice in the process,” said All On The Line Ohio State Director Katy Shanahan. “The delay in census data delivery is not an excuse to cut out any opportunity for members of the public to engage in the redistricting process or for there to be any less transparency in how the maps are drawn.” 

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