Sen. Kent Smith criticizes redistricting hearing scheduled on Yom Kippur, demands additional session

This was a September 2023 access dispute, not a 2025 episode or a current 2026 controversy over the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s calendar. State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, issued a statement on Sept. 22, 2023, about a commission hearing scheduled for Sept. 25, 2023, which fell on Yom Kippur. Smith represents Ohio Senate District 21.

State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, said, “It was a clear mistake for the Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission to schedule a meeting on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur.”

Smith’s release listed a 10 a.m. ET hearing Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, at Punderson Manor in Northeast Ohio, followed by a 10 a.m. ET hearing Tuesday, Sept. 26, in the Ohio Senate Finance Hearing Room.

A Sept. 22 StateNews report noted that putting a public-comment hearing on Yom Kippur could leave observant Jewish Ohioans without a practical opportunity to testify about proposed legislative maps, even when the proceeding was otherwise open to the public. Nickie J. Antonio, Ohio Senate minority leader and commission co-chair in 2023, said, “It’s Yom Kippur on Monday and so we also want to make accommodation for any of our friends in the Jewish community to be able to participate.”

Article XI, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution requires the commission to hold at least three public hearings around the state and seek public input after introducing, and before adopting, a proposed General Assembly district plan. It also requires commission meetings to be open to the public and broadcast electronically through a medium readily accessible to the general public.

Smith joined Antonio’s effort to add a public hearing rather than limiting the objection to criticism of the Sept. 25 date. State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, said, “I join Leader Antonio’s efforts to add an additional public hearing so all Ohio voices can be heard.”

Smith’s Sept. 22, 2023, release stated that the commission would seek to schedule an additional public hearing because the Sept. 25 session fell on Yom Kippur. The central accountability question was whether the process provided an added, workable avenue for public testimony, rather than simply meeting general requirements for an open mapmaking process.

Smith’s ties to Euclid include 12 years on the Euclid Board of Education, from 2002 through 2013, before his General Assembly service. The September 2023 hearings concerned General Assembly district maps, the lines through which Euclid and nearby Northeast Ohio communities elect state legislators and can raise concerns about community boundaries and political representation.

Ohio’s constitutional General Assembly redistricting process covers 99 Ohio House districts and 33 Ohio Senate districts. A 2023 Ohio Supreme Court decision records that the plan adopted Sept. 29, 2023, became the operative General Assembly district plan for the 2024 election cycle. For Euclid-area residents, accessible hearings offer a way to raise local concerns before the state adopts the district lines that structure their General Assembly representation.

The commission separately listed a 5:30 p.m. testimony hearing on Sept. 25, 2023, at Punderson Manor Lodge & Conference Center in Newbury, in addition to the 10 a.m. Punderson Manor hearing described in Smith’s statement. Keith Faber, Ohio auditor of state and commission co-chair in 2023, said, “We are adjourned. We will reconvene our next hearing at 5:30 tonight here.”

The 5:30 p.m. session identified eight named witnesses: Barbara Ague, Walter Claypool, Patricia Denny, Rebecca Gorski, David Guran, Peter Hoffman, Mary Vedda and Mary Welch. The commission accepted written testimony in connection with scheduled meetings and hearings, allowing people who wished to testify only in writing to send a witness-information form and testimony by email or submit both in person at a scheduled hearing. Chris Tavenor of the Ohio Environmental Council submitted written testimony on Sept. 25, 2023, during the hearing period.

Available records do not establish that the 5:30 p.m. session was the additional hearing sought by Smith and Antonio. They also do not establish whether the evening session or the written-testimony option made participation workable for residents observing Yom Kippur.

The 2023 dispute remains a practical test for future Ohio redistricting: meeting the constitutional minimum number of public hearings does not by itself demonstrate that every affected community had a usable chance to be heard. For Euclid and surrounding Northeast Ohio communities, the relevant measure is whether hearing dates, electronic access and documented alternatives allow residents to participate before General Assembly maps governing their representation are adopted.

The separately documented evening testimony session and written-submission process show that avenues existed during the September 2023 hearing period, but the available record does not establish that either was the added hearing Smith sought or that either removed the Yom Kippur access barrier. Because the episode occurred in 2023, it is best understood as a dated accountability case study, not a current 2026 dispute over the commission’s schedule.