Linn supervisors vote to draw their own districts

CEDAR RAPIDS - To avoid political manipulation, Iowa law goes to great length to ensure local government officials don't have a direct hand in drawing their own districts.

Linn County supervisors voted this afternoon to draw their own districts, the latest move in a feud with Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz and his staff.

On Oct. 12, Schultz's staff notified supervisors they were rejecting the redistricting map drawn by the redistricting commission, approved unanimously by both the commission and the supervisors.

Schultz's staff cited state law requiring cities to be divided into the fewest possible supervisors' districts - three, in Cedar Rapids' case, instead of the four on the proposed map.

Schultz's staff subsequently rejected supervisors' re-submission of the initial map with an ultimatum: submit a new map meeting the fewest-district standard; adopt a plan drawn by the Legislative Services Agency that does the same thing; or do nothing, and have a new map imposed by Schultz Dec. 1.

As a protest against Schultz's ruling, redistricting commissioners voted Tuesday to resubmit their original map to county supervisors. That second submission of a map already rejected by the state gives supervisors the power under state law to draw their own map.

"I appreciate the commission's work," said Supervisor Brent Oleson, R-Marion. "I think that map serves Linn County well, both rural and urban."

Working under the restrictions imposed by Schultz leaves the county with three Cedar Rapids districts, a fourth covering Marion and nearby rural precincts, and a big "doughnut" encompassing the rest of the county. Thanks to the distribution of county population in the 2010 Census, there's little room for variation beyond a few precincts here and there.

Supervisor John Harris, R-Palo, who will likely live in the new doughnut district, raised the possibility of simply adopting the LSA map.

"How many experts do we need to tell us that when you divide Cedar Rapids into three districts you will always have the doughnut?" Harris asked.

But Oleson said he's not willing to take a chance on Schultz imposing an even uglier map, and Harris joined the supervisors' unanimous vote to draw their own district.

The supervisors and Assistant County Attorney Gary Jarvis both question Schultz's interpretation of the redistricting law, but Jarvis noted there's little they can practically do about. A court challenge would have to prove Schultz acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner, Jarvis noted - a very tough standard.

"The Legislature has delegated the administration of the election law to the secretary of state," Jarvis said.

Supervisors instructed county elections staff to draw up some alternate maps meeting Schultz's standard for review next week.