Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said the primary would stay in March.
Kasich’s signature, expected within a few days, isn’t likely to put an end to the redistricting debate as the Ohio Democratic Party, the Dayton Unit of the NAACP and other groups are considering legal challenges in federal court.
Issues that could be raised include possible violations of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, said Dan Tokaji, a voting law expert at the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University.
However, Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, a lawyer who carried the bill in the Senate, said it met constitutional and Voting Rights Act requirements.
The plan creates 16 new U.S. House districts. Twelve favor Republicans and four Democrats, with just two being competitive, according to an analysis by the Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting. In the Dayton area, it puts U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, in the same district, setting up a potential primary fight.
The final version included a $2.75 million appropriation to help county boards of elections prepare for redistricting.
With the appropriation, the law takes effect immediately upon Kasich’s signature. The appropriation also prohibits a referendum, said Faber.
“In the end, it is a fair and balanced map,” Faber said during the Senate debate.
Sen. Edna Brown, D-Toledo, disagreed.
“This map is an outrageous example of gerrymandering,” said Brown. It splits Toledo into three districts.
Brown said the map “does not reflect Ohio’s history as a 50-50 battleground state” in presidential and gubernatorial elections.
The map, said Faber, complies with the U.S. Constitution, by making the districts equal in population and complies with the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act by not only creating a majority-minority district in the Cleveland-Akron area, but a minority influence Columbus-area district.
Sen. Charleta Tavares, D-Columbus, said those districts prompted her to vote “yes.” Sen. Shirley Smith, a black Democrat from Cleveland, also joined 22 Republicans, including Faber, Peggy Lehner of Kettering and Bill Beagle of Tipp City, in voting “yes.” All seven “no” votes came from Democrats.
The House had approved the plan earlier but had to concur with the Senate version with the appropriation amendment. The vote this time was 60-35, with two black Democrats, John Barnes, Jr. and Bill Patmon, both of Cleveland, joining 58 Republicans in voting “yes.” One Republican, Kirk Schuring, from the Canton area, joined 34 Democrats in voting “no.”
Reps. Jarrod Martin, R-Beavercreek, and Ross. McGregor, R-Springfield, who voted “no” the first time in the House, switched to “yes” this time.
“I figured it was important to have the funding in the bill to make sure the boards (of elections) could do their work,” said Martin.
Back in the Senate, Faber said the appropriation was added at the request of Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Elections Officials.
In the House debate, however, Rep. Dennis Murray, D-Sandusky, called the amendment a “parliamentary trick” to make the bill effective immediately and avoid a referendum.
“This map encourages extremism on both sides,” said Murrary.
Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, said the amendment was not a trick. County boards of elections have much work to do between now and the March primary to match voters up with their new districts, Blessing said.
“We have to get that right,” said Blessing. “We have to make sure people vote for the people they’re eligible to vote for.”
Ohio’s U.S. House delegation will shrink from 18 to 16 because of slow population growth relative to growth in states gaining House members.
Republicans control the current U.S. House delegation, 13-5.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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