COLUMBUS — Ohio is behind most of the nation in drawing new congressional district lines for this November's election.

        Twenty-six of the 43 states that have to redraw congressional districts this year have completed the process, although many are encountering court challenges, the Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday. Indiana has completed redistricting.

        At least seven more states have introduced redistricting plans in legislatures. No such plans have surfaced yet in Ohio.

        Ohio's only lagging neighbor is Kentucky, where Republicans went to court last month, asking that its legislature be ordered to draw new congressional maps in time for the 2002 elections.

        Majority Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly say that fixing the state budget kept them from redrawing congressional lines and that the delay could lead to a separate congressional primary in August.

        District lines are drawn every 10 years, based on U.S. Census data.

        Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, said the same legislative staff that put together the balanced-budget bill is working on redistricting.

        House Minority Leader Dean DePiero, D-Parma, said the Republican explanation that the budget crisis delayed redistricting is “hogwash, nonsense.”

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