The Ohio Redistricting Commission will meet Wednesday for the first time in more than a year to work on state legislative maps with little time to finalize.

It’s the latest in a series of moves to get federal and state legislative maps in place for the 2024 election.

The federal map used last year, despite being ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court, will remain for the 2024 election. (More on that below.)

With a Dec. 20 filing deadline for candidates running in the March 19, 2024, primary, there isn’t much time to resolve the state legislative issues.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled five times the state legislative maps adopted by the commission, which has five Republican members and two Democrats, were unconstitutional. But a federal court panel determined the fifth set of maps, identical to the third set, would be on the 2022 ballot and then the commission would need a new map for at least the 2024 election.

The commission last met May 5, 2022, on state maps.

It’s not out of the question that the commission will vote on House and Senate maps that are identical or nearly identical to the unconstitutional maps. That can be done fairly fast.

The reason for similar or identical maps is Republican Maureen O’Connor, former Ohio Supreme Court chief justice who sided with the three Democrats on the court opposition to the maps, no longer serves.

With Justice Joe Deters, a Republican, now serving with three Republicans who disagreed each time that the maps were unconstitutional, any challenge to the districts almost certainly will be tossed by this court.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican and commission member, informed the other commissioners the state maps need to be approved shortly.

“The redistricting process could potentially conflict with the statutory requirements of election administration if we don’t complete our work and approve final maps by Sept. 22,” LaRose wrote.

He explained General Assembly candidates have 30 days before the Dec. 20 filing deadline to move to a new district. Legal descriptions of the districts and files with their borders must be given to his office two weeks prior to that.

LaRose noted that Oct. 23 is “the latest possible date for the commission to enact a new district plan.”

But LaRose wrote because of potential litigation, the commission should approve the new state legislative maps by Sept. 22.

Meanwhile, Citizens Not Politicians, a group that includes O’Connor, is spearheading an effort to get a constitutional amendment on the November 2024 general election ballot to again change state and federal legislative redistricting.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, rejected the group’s proposed language Aug. 23 for the amendment and stated specific changes were needed for certification. Citizens Not Politicians submitted a revised petition summary Tuesday with Chris Davey, its spokesman, saying: “We made adjustments in response to the attorney general’s guidance and refiled our summary of the petition.”

The proposal would seek to have a 15-member citizens commission draw what the group calls “fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician.”

Also, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday that congressional boundaries drawn by the commission last year — and ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court — will be in place for the 2024 election.

Organizations that opposed the congressional maps asked the state’s highest court on Tuesday to dismiss the case and permit those districts to stay in place for the 2024 election. The court granted the request two days later.

“Given the substantial costs and uncertainty that further litigation would entail, petitioners have decided to no longer pursue their challenge,” Donald J. McTigue, an attorney representing the opponents, wrote in asking for the dismissal.

The congressional map was drawn to favor Republicans 10-2 with three toss-up seats that slightly leaned Democratic. In the 2022 election, the Democratic candidates in those toss-up districts all won giving Republicans a 10-5 advantage despite a strong year for the GOP in Ohio.

The opposition figured 10-5 was a good deal with new maps drawn for the 2026 congressional election, possibly by the citizen commission.