Supervisors OK new Linn County districts, precincts

Linn County's new election districts,and the precincts where rural residents will vote for the next decade, were formally adopted this morning.

Supervisors praised the redistricting commission they appointed to redraw election districts and precincts to match the 2010 Census, then voted unanimously to adopt the district map. Because precincts are set by ordinance, that measure is subject to two more readings before it becomes official.

"The commission did a really good job," said Supervisor Brent Oleson, R-Marion. "I think the process was transparent and done according to code without any political gamesmanship."

The new district plan puts Cedar Rapids Supervisors Linda Langston and Lu Barron, both Democrats, in the same new District 5. Langston has said she and her husband are considering moving from their southeast Cedar Rapids home.

The plan places no other supervisors in the same district. There's no incumbent in the new District 2, which covers the county's southern tier of townships from Putnam Township to Benton County, including sections of southwest Cedar Rapids and Fairfax.

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New Linn county Board of Supervisor districts

Supervisors also adopted a new district numbering plan proposed by the redistricting commission to avoid having four of the county's five seats up for election at the same time next fall.

The new districts where Supervisors Ben Rogers, D-Cedar Rapids, and Oleson live will retain the numbers of their present ones - 3 and 4 respectively.

Current District 5 Supervisor John Harris, R-Palo, will live in the new District 1.

The new map will have one fewer rural precinct than the current one, giving the county a total of 86.