Johnson County moves toward creation of supervisor districts to comply with new Iowa law

IOWA CITY — Johnson County’s Temporary Redistricting Committee is preparing to submit its precinct plan, the first step in the process of changing how county supervisors are elected after a new state law requiring the change was passed by Republicans earlier this year.

Senate File 75 requires Iowa counties with populations of 125,000 or more or which are home to one of Iowa’s three public universities to elect their county supervisors by districts, rather than at-large. All three counties — Johnson, Black Hawk and Story — currently have Democratic-leaning boards and elect supervisors countywide.

The committee worked with county staff to develop a precinct plan that was presented to the public this week. It certifies the population in each precinct using data from the 2020 census.

The plan must be submitted to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office by Oct. 1 after approval from the county’s board of supervisors. County staff during the formation of the committee said the intention was to have the plan submitted by the end of summer.

Once the plan is submitted, the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency will draw and publish the representation plan by Jan. 1, 2026, showing the five districts.

“Every 10 years, when the national census is complete, we do the redistricting through all the counties and the LSA draws those maps. We are just in a situation where Senate File 75 is having us do this supervisor redistricting right now, but we're going to follow the same process we follow every 10 years to keep it consistent,” said County Auditor Julie Persons.

The three-person redistricting committee had two members appointed by the board of supervisors and one by the Johnson County Republicans. The board of supervisors appointed Sue Dvorsky, former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, and Nate Mueller, assistant director of planning, development and sustainability for Johnson County.

Johnson County Republicans have appointed Thomas McInerney, an Iowa City-based architect. McInerney has served previously on the campaign committee with the county party.

Random draw for district term limits

All five seats on the board of supervisors will be on the ballot in November 2026. In order to create staggered terms, some supervisor districts will be assigned two-year terms and others will be assigned four-year terms. Those terms will begin after next fall’s election.

Persons said she plans to use a random selection process at a public meeting to determine which districts get which term length. That will happen after the plan has been approved and published. After the 2026 election, supervisors will to be elected in staggered four-year terms.

The terms of Board Chair Jon Green and Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz are set to end in 2026. Supervisors Rod Sullivan, Mandi Remington and Lisa Green-Douglass were elected to new four-year terms in November 2024 — but now face a 2026 election.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com

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