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Elections official: Local map drawing much easier than state process

| February 15, 2022

NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (February 15, 2022) – Dover, New Philadelphia and Uhrichsville are in the early stages of the redistricting process for their precincts and wards.

County Board of Elections Director Gail Garbrandt says officials in those cities will form committees and look for any population changes. If the precinct population goes over 1,400 the city will have to redraw the lines. However, Garbrandt doesn’t anticipate any changes to the local maps.

She says the redistricting process at the state level is another story. Legislators have worked past deadlines and have failed to come up with maps that satisfy anti-gerrymandering protocols approved by Ohio voters.

Garbrandt says elections officials need those maps to prepare ballots. Voting in the primary starts March 18 for members of the military.

“We’re getting nervous here because we’re preparing for a primary on May 3 and we don’t have maps for state senate districts and statehouse districts that are approved,” she said.

If they can’t finalize the maps, legislators are considering splitting up the primary over two dates in May and June or moving it to August.

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