GOP leaders: No contempt in 4th set of Ohio legislative maps

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s two most powerful legislators told the Ohio Supreme Court on Monday that they should not be held in contempt for leading the charge to push through a fourth set of GOP-drawn legislative maps to meet a court-imposed deadline.

In a filing by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker and Ohio Redisricting Commission co-chair Bob Cupp, both Republicans, said the fourth map is not in contempt, “It is compliance.”

They argued that the “real complaint” of voting rights and Democratic groups who have thrice prevailed in constitutional challenges against the maps is that they acted on a “failsafe” back-up plan rather than the one drawn by a pair of independent mapmakers.

The filing said independent mapmakers unanimously hired by the commission, one Democrat, one Republican, “neither considered nor implemented” any of the Republicans’ suggestions for the map they were drawing from scratch when time ran out.

Voting begins in Ohio’s May 3 primary Tuesday, despite ongoing legal disputes over the maps. Legislative candidates will not appear on ballots, because those districts are still undetermined.