Democratic voters challenge Ohio congressional district map

Source: Reuters




MAY 23, 2018 / 11:04 AM / UPDATED 44 MINUTES AGO

Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - A group of Democratic voters asked a federal court on Wednesday to throw out a Republican-drawn map of Ohio’s 16 U.S. House of Representatives districts, saying the boundaries were devised to entrench Republicans in power in violation of the voters’ constitutional rights.

Democratic voters from all of the districts filed suit in Cincinnati against Ohio Governor John Kasich and other Republican state officials over a practice called partisan gerrymandering. The U.S. Supreme Court is due by the end of June to issue major rulings in two partisan gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin and Maryland that could affect the Ohio suit.

The plaintiffs said the suit is not likely to impact the Ohio electoral map for November’s mid-term elections in which Democrats are trying to seize control of the House and Senate from Republicans, but aims instead for the 2020 congressional election.

The Ohio congressional maps, crafted after the 2010 U.S. census, have been in use since 2012. The plaintiffs in the case contend the Republican-controlled legislature drew the maps in order to lessen the clout of voters with Democratic leanings.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/democratic-voters-challenge-ohio-congressional-district-map-idUSKCN1IO2BX