Leader Sykes statement on redistricting lawsuit

Ohio Redistricting Commission member and House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) today issued a statement as several groups, including the ACLU of Ohio, League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and others filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state legislative district maps recently passed by the Commission’s five Republican members. Leader Sykes voted against the plan Sept. 15. 

“Ohioans and Democrats alike wanted to see the Commission work together on a map that met the constitutional requirement for proportionality and lives up to the reforms voters passed in 2015. Republican members of the Commission decided the will of the people was not important to them and instead passed a partisan four-year map. Now the issue is in the hands of the courts. We didn’t have to be here.”