Ohioans got short shrift as political map fight dragged on

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Accusations have flown for months over who’s to blame for Ohio’s redistricting protracted redistricting predicament. It’s been a mess of a political mapmaking fight that has left the state with unsettled political boundaries and no date for its Statehouse primaries. Voting rights groups blame Statehouse Republicans. Lawmakers blame national Democrats and the Ohio Supreme Court. The court implicitly faults the Ohio Redistricting Commission. Commissioners fault census delays. An Associated Press review settled on one key finding: After hundreds of days of time with government statisticians, lawyers, judges and politicians, the public was the group given the least time with the maps.