What a mess. Ohio's redistricting process just keeps running up against one political obstacle after another.
Late last week there was a double hit, as Thursday night Gov. Mike DeWine canceled a planned Friday meeting of the Ohio Redistricting Commission because Republican lawmakers still cannot agree on who to appoint as their party's co-chair on the commission. And, state Attorney General Dave Yost again rejected petition language for a constitutional amendment that would change the system for making political maps.
Though representatives of Citizens Not Politicians maintain their second submission of language included the adjustments Yost requested after the first, Yost said in a rejection letter to the group there still was a "critical omission" in leaving out how party affiliation would be determined under the new system.
Even DeWine agrees the system in place does not work. Certainly, he must be frustrated with the degree to which his fellow commission members are straining to prove him right.
There are ducks to be gotten in a row on all sides. Commission members must remember for whom they work, and get to it; and those hoping to change the system have got to be serious enough about it not to again be beaten on technicalities.