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LetOhioVote.org, the campaign against the slots, eventually
abandoned its challenge, but Democrats are pointing to the legal
precedent set in the case in making their arguments to the
court. Their formal goal is gaining an opportunity to put a
repeal question before voters in 2012, but making a successful
case could also prompt a federal judge to intervene and order
the mapmakers back to the drawing board.
The money added to the bill also means it takes effect
immediately, instead of after the usual 90 days. The deadline
for congressional candidates to file is Dec. 7, so a map must be
in place by then.
The map, which Republican Gov. John Kasich signed into law
Monday, has been widely derided by Democrats and voter groups
who say the GOP gerrymandered the lines to protect their control
of Ohio's congressional delegation.
Ohio lost two U.S. House seats—reducing its number of
representatives from 18 to 16—because of slow population growth
compared to the rest of the country. Voter advocacy groups, such
as the Ohio League of Women Voters, say the new map makes 12 of
those seats safe for Republicans.
The map squeezes six sitting members of Congress into three
districts, setting up potential primary face-offs between
Republicans Mike Turner and Steve Austria in southern
Ohio and Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur
for a district along Lake Erie. It also places Democratic
U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton into the district of Republican
Jim Renacci.
A
new Democratic-leaning district was added that contains most of
Columbus and its home county, Franklin.
The new 9th Congressional District stretches from Toledo to
Cleveland along the banks of Lake Erie, and the new 15th
District is an elongated backward ``C'' shape that stretches
over 800 miles and touches parts of 13 counties.
The GOP-led Ohio Senate defended adding the $2.75 million in
state spending to the bill. The money is to be used by the
elections boards to make changes associated with the new map.
Ohio State University law professor Dan Tokaji has said
the Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that only the appropriation
portion of an appropriation bill is safe from voter repeal, not
the rest of the legislation.
State Sen. Keith Faber, who is an attorney, has said if
the appropriation is necessary to implementation of the bill,
the two cannot be separated for purposes of repeal.
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