Ohio grassroots organizing group files objections, urges Ohio justices to reject new gerrymandered legislative maps
January 26, 2022
COLUMBUS - Last night, in response to the state legislative maps approved Saturday by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, the petitioners in Ohio Organizing Collaborative v. Ohio Redistricting Commission filed two objections to the maps with the Supreme Court of Ohio, arguing that the new maps violate constitutional prohibitions against partisan gerrymandering.
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) is represented by The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and Reed Smith. The OOC is joined by a group of other advocates and individuals in the lawsuit, namely CAIR-Ohio, Ohio Environmental Council, Ahmad Aboukar, Crystal Bryant, Samuel Gresham Jr., Prentiss Haney, Mikayla Lee, and Pierrette “Petee” Talley.
The OOC urges the court to declare the new maps invalid and order the commission to enact new ones that comply with the Ohio Constitution’s partisan fairness mandates.
“We are extremely disappointed - but not surprised - by the new gerrymandered legislative maps proposed by our legislators. Yet again, they have failed the people of Ohio, who have demanded a fair, constitutional, and representative map-making process for too long now,” said Prentiss Haney, Co-Executive Director, Ohio Organizing Collaborative. Haney is also an individual plaintiff in Ohio Organizing Collaborative v. Ohio Redistricting Commission.
