Secretary of State proposes method to challenge county redistricting

CEDAR RAPIDS - Iowans would have a way of challenging their counties' redistricting plans under a proposal by Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.

Under the plan announced Tuesday by Schultz's office, the Legislative Services Agency would draw a county's new supervisor districts in response to a petition by county residents. The petition would have to have signatures equal to least 2 percent of total votes cast for governor in the preceding election.

Based on 2010 returns, that would mean 1,597 signatures to mount a challenge in Linn County, 1,026 in Johnson County.

Schultz's proposal was prompted by charges of political influence in Polk County's redistricting. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board rejected a gerrymandering complaint in November, but noted the state's current law “blatantly favors the political party in control of the board of supervisors and breeds suspicion by the minority political party.”

County supervisors appoint a commission every 10 years to draw new district maps based on the latest census data.

Schultz rejected Linn County's redistricting proposal last fall, saying the map drawn by the county's redistricting commission and approved by supervisors didn't divide Cedar Rapids into the fewest districts possible. Supervisors protested, but eventually adopted a map meeting Schultz's requirement.

Megan Tooker, executive director of the ethics and campaign disclosure board, said she'd rather remove supervisors from the process entirely.

“I think we both share a frustration in the current scheme,” Tooker said Tuesday. “Our board takes the position that LSA should draw the maps. We would still like local control to be a component, but with that opt-out (petition) provision.”

Legislation that would enact Schultz's proposal has been drafted but hasn't been assigned to a legislative committee, spokeswoman Erin Rapp said.