(1) Shall comply with US Constitution, Ohio Constitution, and the VRA.
(2) Districts shall be contiguous. Point contiguity is not permitted.
(3) Districts shall be "compact"
(4) Counties larger than one quota (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton): Hamilton may fall off the list by 2030.
(4a) If largest city more than a quota (Columbus):
Keep substantial portion of city in district. This provision includes cities and towns surrounded by Columbus as if they were part of the city.
(4b) If largest city has more than 100,000 (Cleveland and Cinciinnati)
The city shall not be split. Since Cuyahoga and Hamilton must be split, this says that in dividing the counties, the large cities shall not be split. There is language about the VRA, but with Cleveland down to about 1/2 a quota, this probably only requires placing East Cleveland and other heavily-black eastern suburbs with the city. I doubt that it requires going to Akron, which clearly violates recent SCOTUS decisions on race sorting.
(4c) There is no (4c)
This suggest that there is no pack rule, as there is for legislative districts. So a Columbus district must be created (with good faith because of the enclaves). I would read it as preventing going into the outer ring of suburbs, and possibly Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington, as there is a requirement that they be of "similar interests". In dividing Cuyahoga and Hamilton don't divide Cleveland or Cincinnati.
(5) 65 of 88 counties must not be split. 18 must not be split more than once, and five not more than twice.
Theoretically, at most 14 counties need to be divided (or fewer counties, if more splits in the county).
(6) If a district includes only part of a county, that part must be contiguous with the county boundaries. This does not make a lot of sense. If a district extends into multiple counties, then the portion in any county must reach the county boundaries in order to be self-contiguous. So it would appear to be applicable only to districts entirely in one county, which would require that a district entirely in Franklin, Cuyahoga, or Hamilton county must reach the county line. This is just a silly requirement.
(7) No more than one county may be split between two districts, unless the county has more than 400,000 persons (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery, and Lucas).
(8) An "attempt" to include a whole county in each district shall be made.
Only 22 counties are currently split, but 7 are split more than twice, and Cuyahoga is split four times and Summit are split three times.
4 and 9 split Erie and Lorain
4 and 7 split Huron and Lorain
13 and 14 split Trumbull and Portage and (Summit)
7 and 16 split Medina and Stark and (Cuyahoga)
13 and 16 split Portage and (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
11 and 14 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
14 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit) and Portage
11 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
11 and 16 split (Cuyahoga) and (Summit)
5 and 9 split (Lucas) and Ottawa
9 and 13 do not include a whole county.
The standards are pretty mild. The procedural requirements are tougher. You could probably draw a Republican map, perhaps giving up one seat, but you won't get it implemented.
