So at this point we're not sure, but the candidates will file petitions to run for office by the Dec 7th deadline for districts that may not exists by the planned March 6th primary. Or they could be forced to run in a statewide primary election for Ohio's 16 U.S. House seats. This could mean that the top 16 Republicans face the top 16 Democrats in the November 2012 election. Or this could mean the candidates could run in vastly different districts than they expect to, provided the Republicans and Democrats work out a solution. If the March 6th date holds, the primary would be held on Super Tuesday, when the presidential primaries take place. However, if the primary is pushed back till May, the filing deadline could be pushed back and the primary could lose some significance (particularly in the national GOP race). The head of the petition effort, Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic Party chairman, must collect 231,147 valid voter signatures to get the GOP congressional redistricting plan on the November 2012 ballot. If he does, it would force an election where candidates for Congress in a statewide race next year and that the Ohio primary might be pushed back to May or June. He's planning on collecting them on November 2, 2011, you know when everyone turns out to vote against Issue 2.
If no agreement is reached, it could mean a federal court could draw up Ohio's congressional map. Republicans would not be happy about this.
Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, R-Medina, said:
“warned the public that the Democrats’ plan was to stymie the General Assembly’s constitutional duty to pass a congressional redistricting plan, and ultimately have a map imposed on Ohio by unelected federal judges, who may be judges from Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.”The decision came out of the Ohio Supreme Court (7-0) said the referendum petition from the group called Ohioans for Fair Districts plan to submit a challenge to the GOP redistricting plan by putting it on the November 2012 ballot. Of course some are arguing that the bill creating the new congressional districts isn't subject to referendum because Republicans wrote into the law a $2.5 million appropriation for local boards of elections, and referendums aren't allowed on appropriation bills under Ohio law. Ohio's Supreme court (6 Republicans and 1 Democrat) disagreed.
The last time Ohio congressional district mapping was on the ballot was 1915, when Democrats forced a vote and Ohio voters rejected the Republican map (fingers crossed for a repeat). Republicans are naturally defending their plan, and Batchelder are calling the Ohio Supreme Court decision "the first step into judicial interference in this process." You know the same lame argument whenever they are trying to screw us...not like union busting. Batchelder went on to call the map, "fair and legal" or as Fox News would call it "fair and balanced." The ruling actually doesn't say the map is unconstitutional, but instead that the appropriations inserted into the bill doesn't meet the criteria to shield it from a referendum effort.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) issued a brief saying:
the 16 Ohio congressional districts must be finalized by Dec. 7, in order to “ensure proper administration of the March 2012 congressional primary.”Clearly, the man is delusional. So for those of you who hoped that after Issue 2 was over this pissing contest between Dems and Republicans would be over too bad, sucker. The reality is it will more than likely get worse the closer we get to elections because Republicans are going to make a grab to hold onto power. I just wish that the politicians remember who are actually getting screwed here: it isn't those of who might lose their district, but really the workers, their families, and those being systematically disenfranchised.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201110151320/NEWS01/110160322
