Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a new map of congressional districts into law.
FILE - In this July 13, 2021 file photo, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine promotes a new entrance ramp onto I-70 in downtown Columbus, Ohio. DeWine signed into law a map of new congressional districts on Saturday, Nov. 20, despite objections from Democrats and voting rights groups. The map will be in effect for the next four years.
Democrats blasted the Republican-led mapmaking process as unfair, partisan and cloaked in secrecy. The Senate approved the bill Tuesday, only about 16 hours after the new map was released. The nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave the map an F grade. DeWine, however, said Saturday that the new map “has fewer county splits and city splits" than recent proposals and the current congressional map. He said it keeps Lucas and Stark counties and the Mahoning Valley within single congressional districts “for the first time in decades" and keeps Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo “all whole within the same congressional map for the first time since the 1840s.
Fair Districts Ohio, a coalition of voting-rights groups and labor organizations, had called on the governor to strike down the bill. Executive director Jen Miller of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, a member organization, said instead of “bipartisan, transparent redistricting" leaders had “disrespected voters, trampled the Ohio Constitution and rigged the congressional map to serve partisan, political operatives rather than fairly represent Ohioans.
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