(The Center Square) — Ohio’s constitutionally mandated congressional redistricting process is underway, and the public can share its thoughts.

The Ohio General Assembly recently opened an online portal to allow members of the public to submit proposed congressional maps after Republicans and Democrats could not agree on districts in 2020.

“The launch of the public portal is a welcome step toward transparency in the required redrawing of Ohio’s congressional district lines,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said in a statement. I encourage Ohioans to make their voices heard. Fair, constitutional maps must begin with public participation, and I remain committed to fighting for a process that is open, accountable, and focused on delivering those fair congressional districts for the people of Ohio.”

Unlike Texas and other states where politics is pushing mid-census redistricting, Ohio is under a rule of the people to change congressional maps before the 2026 midterm elections.

Thanks to a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2018, congressional districts drawn without bipartisan support from the Ohio Redistricting Commission must be redrawn every four years.

In 2020, the commission approved the maps favoring 10 Republican and five Democratic seats. According to Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, the maps for midterms should make the split 8-7 in favor of the GOP.

The maps passed in 2020 had no minority support, which the state constitution requires.

The General Assembly can pass new maps by the end of September, with a two-thirds vote in each chamber, which includes half of the Democrats. If that doesn’t work, the commission must adopt a plan by Oct. 31 that has the support of both Democrats on the commission.

If the commission fails, the General Assembly can try again and must pass new maps by Nov. 30. Those maps can pass with a simple majority but must comply with the constitution’s anti-gerrymandering provisions.

Those rules include that no plan can favor or disfavor one political party and districts must resemble voting percentages from the last 10 years in statewide and federal elections.

“It’s a basic democratic principle that the people should pick their politicians, not the other way around. It makes sense then that the people should also have a say in what these maps look like. That’s why I encourage Ohioans to not only submit their own suggested maps to make their voices heard but get involved in every step of the redistricting process to understand how gerrymandering impacts them. Fair districts mean better representation and better representation means better, more responsive government for our communities. Ohioans deserve nothing less than a fair, bipartisan map,” House Minority Leader Dani Isaacohn, D-Cincinnati, said in a statement.