The new legislative maps draw lines for 99 house and 33 Senate districts. And in some of Ohio’s largest counties, the maps pit current Democratic against each other in the Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo areas. There are 10 house districts that are drawn with a majority of black voters in them, currently there are only five drawn that way. An Eastern Ohio state senate seat pits two Democratic incumbents against one another. The proposed maps are already drawing controversy from some of the groups that opposed the congressional map recently adopted by Ohio lawmakers. Peg Rosenfield is with the Ohio League of Women Voters and she’s not happy with the way some districts are divided into odd looking boundaries.
The proposed maps will be the center of discussion at an Ohio Apportionment Board meeting set for Monday. That board, which has a five to one Republican majority, must approve new maps by October first.