Johnson County redistricting commission to review state’s supervisor district plan

IOWA CITY — The state’s non-partisan Legislative Services Agency has released its proposed Johnson County Supervisor District plan, which separates the county into five equal population districts ahead of the November 2026 election.

The plan is the latest step in the process to change how supervisors are elected to comply with a new state law, which requires the three Iowa counties that are home to regents university campuses to elect their county supervisors by districts, rather than having members elected at-large

As a result of the law, all five seats on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors will be on the ballot in November 2026. Voters will be able to vote for a single member on the board that represents the district in which they live.

The population of each of the five Johnson County districts is slightly more than 30,000 people. The LSA has set its ideal district population to 30,571. In the proposed plan, each district is within 1 percent of the ideal population, with a surplus of 83 people on the high end and 201 people less than the ideal on the low end.

The five districts are:

  Buy Photo

The county’s Temporary Redistricting Committee is set to hold a public hearing on the proposed district plan Monday, Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the county’s Health & Human Services Building, 855 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City.

The committee worked with county staff to develop a precinct plan that certifies the population in each precinct using data from the 2020 census. The precinct plan was used by the LSA in developing the district plan.

Following the public hearing, the committee will consider adopting the district plan. The plan will then be submitted to the Board of Supervisors, which must approve the plan.

Should the board choose to reject the plan, it must give written reasons for the rejection. LSA would then prepare a second plan for the board’s consideration.

Random selection process for staggered term limits

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.

The county auditor 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.

According to public address information from the most recent election filings, Green-Douglass is the only current supervisor who is a lone resident of one of the proposed districts, living in District 1.

Green and Remington both live in the proposed District 5, while Sullivan and Fixmer-Oraiz both live in the proposed District 4.

Lawsuit argues redistricting law is unconstitutional

Republican Legislators who backed the new law have said it’s necessary to ensure proper rural representation in counties with a large student population. But county residents and the supervisors themselves have opposed the law.

A lawsuit filed in Johnson County District Court by a group of 14 residents from the three affected counties argues that the new law is unconstitutional and requests a temporary injunction to stop the redistricting process from moving forward.

The lawsuit lists as defendants Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, and the Johnson, Story and Black Hawk boards of supervisors.

Through their attorney — James Larew of Larew Law Office in Iowa City — the plaintiffs argue that the law limits the powers of voters in the three counties.

“SF 75, as is clear from its text, singling out Regents universities and from the advocacy of the bill’s supporters in the legislature, by mandating a particular representation plan for these three counties, only, is motivated by an animus against students and also in favor of those who reside at rural addresses. Neither of these purposes, each of which diminishes or enhances the electoral power of one group of voters over another, is constitutionally viable,” the plaintiffs’ petition states.

Prior to the adoption of Senate File 75 earlier this year, each of Iowa’s 99 counties could decide how its supervisors were elected, either through a decision made by the elected Board of Supervisors or through a voter-led petition.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors asked Gov. Reynolds in a letter to veto the bill in April. They called the bill “targeted interference” that “undermines the foundational principle that all Iowans deserve equal treatment under the law” because it targeted just three counties.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com

Get a weekly roundup of Johnson County news by signing up for my Johnson County Update newsletter.