COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lawmakers at the Statehouse passed a bill making emergency adjustments to filing requirements for candidates who want to run in congressional and state legislative races.
What You Need To Know
- Lawmakers added an amendment about elections into an unrelated domestic violence protections bill
- The amendment says if a candidate has collected signatures from a county in their previous district, then those signatures will be accepted if their new district contains a portion of that county
- The amendment also moves the congressional filing deadline from Feb. 2 to March 4
- The bill has an emergency clause attached to it, which means should the governor sign the bill, the law would go into effect immediately
Legislators felt it necessary because neither redistricting process is complete.
The Ohio House and Senate sent a bill to Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, addressing concerns candidates have since there are no legislative or congressional district maps.
“This is in response to chaos that the Republican commissioners have created because they did not support constitutional maps the first time or the second time,” said Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington.
Lawmakers added an amendment about elections into an unrelated domestic violence protections bill, House Bill 93. The amendment says if a candidate has collected signatures from a county in their previous district, then those signatures will be accepted if their new district contains a portion of that county.
“We don’t want someone to not qualify for the ballot for petition violation because of these changes that are happening in the last 10 days or two weeks before the thing,” said Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima.
The amendment also moves the congressional filing deadline from Feb. 2 to March 4. It did not address the general assembly’s filing deadline which remains Feb. 2.
Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, said he was “concerned” the legislative filing deadline remains in place.
“Because we want fair districts, but we also want a fair process and to give people more time, adequate time to get collective signatures, I think is a fair way to do it,” Sykes said.
Huffman said because the legislative maps currently before the Ohio Supreme Court could be approved there is no reason to move the legislative filing deadline.
“You have a long time to gather your petitions and you know, frankly, it’s 50 signatures, and most people should be able to do that in a day or two,” said Huffman. “So if you know the court approves of the map that the redistricting commission passed last Saturday, I think people will have time.”
Huffman, when asked if he is confident the maps will hold up in court, said, “We’ve done what the court asked us to do.”
Meanwhile, the bill has an emergency clause attached to it, which means should the governor sign the bill, the law would go into effect immediately.
