Plot hatched to thwart GOP's next big election-rigging scheme [View all]

[RandySF]

Ohio Republicans appear all but guaranteed to join the ranks of GOP lawmakers around the country, heeding President Donald Trump's call to rig congressional maps to give themselves extra seats — but Democrats may be hatching a plan to stop it, Punchbowl News reported on Monday.

The issue stems from Ohio's redistricting laws, which Republicans passed several years ago to ensure they'd retain the power to draw maps unilaterally, while creating a series of extra steps and checks to make it look as if they didn't. Under Ohio's procedure, the map must be passed on a bipartisan basis, but if no consensus can be reached, the majority party can pass its own map, but only for four years.

This ultimately happened in the last round of redistricting, but due to various circumstances, the gerrymander ended up relatively mild, allowing Democrats to win five out of 15 congressional seats. But with the legally required redraw taking place this fall, Republicans are expected to try to redraw up to three of those seats as more Republican-favoring.

"If Republicans pass their new map without bipartisan support, as expected, Democrats can force a referendum on that map by gathering roughly 250,000 signatures in the 90 days after the map is passed," wrote Punchbowl's Ally Mutnick. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is gearing up to fundraise for this effort, which is expected to be an expensive and uphill battle.




https://www.rawstory.com/ohio-gop-2674216910/