Ohio redistricting process falters as panel hits 'impasse'

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission declared defeat in their attempts to redraw state legislative maps in the face of a court-set deadline Thursday. They said they saw no path forward that would both comply with orders from the state's high court and meet the state's Constitution.

The two Democrats on the seven-member Redistricting Commission rejected the GOP line of argument, after presenting a version of Ohio House and Senate maps that their mapmakers said were constitutional. The maps went down to defeat, however, in a party-line vote shortly before the deadlock was declared.

“Unfortunately, as a practical matter, it would appear — at least at this point — that this body is at an impasse, said Secretary of State Frank LaRose, one of five Republicans on the commission.

As Ohio continues to wade through a new redistricting process for the first time, it was unclear where Thursday's decision not to act would leave the three separate lawsuits filed against the original maps by voting-rights and Democratic groups, including the legal arm of former Attorney General Eric Holder's National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

The impasse also raised questions for the fate of Ohio’s primary, still scheduled for May 3. LaRose has said the state is now precariously close to violating federal and state laws for carrying out the election.

LaRose and other Republicans said the party’s expert mapmakers simply couldn’t find a way to draw constitutional maps that met all the Ohio Supreme Court’s requirements.

Democratic co-chair Sen. Vernon Sykes, a 30-year veteran of the Legislature, maligned Republicans for what he said was a dereliction of duty as the state’s ruling party.

“The majority has the responsibility and the authority to rule, to...