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Key State Leader Wants Changes in Redistricting Process

Sen President Matt Huffman (R-Lima)
Dan Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Sen President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) says the dates related to drawing new Congressional maps are in need of revision because data from the 2020 U.S. Census has been delayed.

The president of the Ohio Senate says since census information is coming in late this year, it is impossible to draw new maps based on the dates in the process approved by voters back in 2015 and 2018. So, he’s proposing a different idea. 

Republican Senate President Matt Huffman(R-Lima) says the voter-approved process doesn’t have a contingency plan. And he says map drawing experts tell him the process won’t work under the new timelines. 

“So it’s, I think, an impossibility based on the best information I have," Huffman said.

Huffman wants voters to approve a constitutional amendment in August that allows lawmakers to change deadlines when data is delayed. Democrats and groups instrumental in getting the new process approved say they’re waiting for details and want to see how other states will handle redistricting. 
Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles
Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.