North Royalton has again changed Ohio General Assembly Districts, after a new map has been approved by the Ohio General Assembly, as adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The new district will be in effect for the upcoming March 19 primary election.
The Ohio redistricting process normally takes place after each census. In 2022, the process was affected by anti-gerrymandering rules that were approved in 2015, plus lawsuits that were filed against the maps that were previously drawn. It took several attempts for the Ohio Supreme Court to adopt the newly created district map that identifies the various voting districts in Ohio. The map actually was not approved until after the Ohio May primary in 2022, which then caused the need for a second primary on August 2, in order to allow for the Ohio house races. The question of the map, though, still remained and it was understood at that time that the maps would be revisited. Since then, the maps were again redrawn.
The City is still situated in the 24th Senate District, but it will now change from District 15 to District 17, which was approved on September 29, 2023. There have been legal challenges to the new map, but in November, 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the challenge, allowing the new map to remain in tact for the 2024-2030 election cycle. The court ruled 4 to 3 in favor of the map.
In the new District 17, North Royalton will join the communities of Berea, Broadview Heights, Olmsted Falls, part of Olmsted Township and Strongsville. The district that was in effect in 2022 placed North Royalton in District 15, with Broadview Heights, Seven Hills, part of Brooklyn and part of Cleveland. The new district is more in keeping with the district before the 2022 change, where North Royalton was in a district with Strongsville and Berea.
On March 19, voters will not only be voting on potential presidential, senate and house candidates, but also Ohio senate and house positions. North Royalton’s current Ohio House Representative Richard Dell’Aquila will no longer be in the new North Royalton district.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer