Ohio could be on the verge of a serious legal impasse, with Democrats preparing to launch a referendum petition drive to repeal another measure passed by the Republican-dominated legislature: The state’s congressional redistricting map, which has heavily favored the GOP.
The problem: A referendum would be held November 2012 — the same time that the state’s voters are scheduled to actually vote for their members of Congress. And if a referendum happens, then the same redistricting law would itself be placed on hold, pending the result.
Furthermore, the state cannot simply move forward with the previous map, because the state has lost two House districts in the 2010 census, going from 18 seats down to 16.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports
It is not entirely clear yet, but it would appear now that congressional candidates will file petitions by the Dec. 7 deadline for districts that may no longer exist by the planned March 6 primary.
Or they could be forced to run in a statewide primary election for Ohio’s 16 U.S. House seats, where the top 16 Republicans face the top 16 finishing Democrats in the November 2012 election.
Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) attempted to argue to the state Supreme Court that the redistricting bill was not subject to referendum, arguing that the bill’s act providing funds for local election boards made it an appropriations bill, which are not subject to the process. However, the seven-member court, made up of six Republicans and one Democrat, ruled unanimously that the map was indeed subject to a referendum, if the Dems prove to be able to collect enough signatures.
“We’re looking at all the potential issues from an administrative standpoint,” spokesman Matt McClellan told TPM. “And we certainly don’t have all the information yet. Obviously it’s going to create issues with the filing deadlines for both congressional and presidential candidates,” explaining that presidential candidates, in order to qualify for the ballot, are supposed to collect a sufficient number of signatures not just statewide, but spread across the Congressional districts (which in turn, would not be a settled matter).
“So there’s that issue,” said McClellan. “And then obviously the court ruled that the congressional lines were subject to referendum, which means at this point the petitioners who might want to seek a referendum on the issue will have until December 25th to file signatures with our office. So we won’t know until later in December, whether there will be a referendum on the congressional lines.”
However, Democrats doubt that the 16-seat at-large election scenario could be a realistic one. “I would say it’s not likely,” said state Dem spokesman Seth Bringman, in an interview with TPM.
Bringman also explained that what Democrats are really attempting to do, is to force Republican leaders back to the table for a fairer map — at which point the Dems would drop the petitions.
“Under Ohio law, the same way that a candidate can remove his or her name from the ballot, the petitioners can withdraw their ballot challenge,” said Bringman. “If a map is drawn that is fair and competitive, to our satisfaction with those criteria, then we could and would drop the petition campaign.”
TPM asked Bringman, what would happen if an opponent threatened to put the state into political and legal limbo if they didn’t get their way. How would he respond?
“That is not our goal. Our goal is to give the people of OH a voice when it comes to congressional redistricting,” Bringman responded. “Our goal is to stop the unfair maps, and have both sides agree to maps that are fair and competitive. If that doesn’t happen, there may need to be intervention by the courts, so that the 2012 election could take place.
“We would rather not come to that point. We would rather not have to do the referendum. What we want is for fair maps to be drawn.”
Under Ohio law, triggering a repeal referendum requires organizers to collect signatures equal to just six percent of the total votes in the last gubernatorial election, with additional requirements that they be sufficiently spread out with at least three percent of the gubernatorial vote across at least half the counties in the state. (Dems more than met this threshold for the referendums on public-employee unions, collecting several times as many the required signatures.
