Linn County's redistricting map gets conditional state approval

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County's redistricting plan has been tentatively approved by the Iowa Secretary of State pending Marion's approval of a technical change to a precinct.

"This plan appears to meet the technical requirements of Iowa law, but before final approval can be given to Linn County's plan, there will need to be one additional amendment to the agreement between Linn County and the city of Marion," Mary Mosiman, the state's deputy of elections, wrote in a letter received this afternoon by Darrin Gage, the county's director of policy and administration.

Once Marion's city council approves the technical change, "the Secretary of State will be able to provide final approval of this Linn County redistricting and re-precincting plan," Mosiman wrote.

That would finish a process county supervisors and the appointed redistricting commission thought they'd completed in September. But  Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz rejected the county's proposed new supervisor districts because Cedar Rapids would have been in four districts instead of three, the least possible and a requirement by Schultz's reading of state law.

County supervisors first re-submitted the initial map, which was rejected again by Schultz. They then reconvened the redistricting commission to draw a new map meeting his requirements, putting Cedar Rapids in three new districts and most of rural Linn County in one large district encircling the metro area.

The new map takes effect Jan. 15.