Iowa redistricting: 3 million people, 99 counties, four U.S. House districts

OK, here's your weekend homework:

• Grab a map of Iowa – better make a few extra copies.
• Divide it into four congressional districts of nearly equal population.

There may be more than one correct answer.

For example, put everything west of Interstate 35 – and a few counties to the east – into one district. Yep, 49 or 50 mostly rural, sparsely populated counties ought to be enough to reach a population of 761,589. That's one-fourth the state's new population of 3,046,355, according to the U.S. Census

Easy.

• Next, put another 761,589 central Iowans in a five- or six-county district around Polk County.

Piece o' cake.

• Now, divide the remaining 40-some counties between two Eastern Iowa districts.

• For extra credit, divide each congressional district into 25 Iowa Senate districts of equal population while avoiding, as much as possible, dividing cities and counties.
• Now, divide each Senate district into two Iowa House districts.

Fine print: In addition to balancing population, districts must be based on what Iowa law calls contiguity – that is, convenient contiguous territory, unity of counties and cities, and compactness. Also, districts must be drawn without regard to which party is in power or where incumbents live.

Simple. Sort of like stacking water.

To see the population change in Iowa's five congressional districts, click here.

Ed Cook heads up the water-stacking department for the Legislative Services Agency, which is responsible for carrying out Iowa's highly respected, but little imitated, non-partisan redistricting law.

Now that Iowa's 2010 census data has been released, Cook, an attorney and senior legal counsel for the LSA, quits doodling on maps and gets serious about redrawing political boundaries. Working with a geographer and a geographic information systems consultant, he has until March 31 days to come up with a map.

“The nitty-gritty of it is that we start with the congressional plan,” said Cook, who has been through the process once. The geographer has done it twice. “We draw several, keep coming up with ones, add to pile.”

In 2001, the Legislature rejected the LSA's first plan – perhaps because 70 incumbents were in districts with at least one other incumbent. The LSA went back to work and drew 77 new congressional district maps.

Despite the fact the second map had 39 House members and 25 senators in districts where at least one other incumbent lived, lawmakers approved it.

“At some point you grind it to the point that you end up with four interlocking noodles,” Cook said.

Iowa's population grew since the 2000 census, but not as fast as the population of other states. They will gain seats in the U.S. House while Iowa will go from five to four representatives.

When Cook delivers a much-anticipated map to Iowa lawmakers March 31 it can approve or reject, but not amended.

If rejected, his team has 35 days to submit a second map. It must meet the same criteria as the first in terms of population, contiguity and compactness.

If legislators reject it, Plan No. 3 is due in 35 days. It can be amended. However, if a plan is not approved by the Legislature by Sept. 1 and signed into law by Sept. 15, the process goes to the Iowa Supreme Court.

That hasn't happened since Iowa's non-partisan redistricting was adopted in 1980 following a protracted legal battle over redistricting in the 1970s.

For more about Iowa redistricting, visit

http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Resources/Redist/redistricting.aspx.