Kansas is undergoing the process of redistricting — redrawing the lines that determine voting districts for political elections — for the first time since 2012 despite community backlash as part of a legislative process that occurs every decade.
The pushback from community and government members is mainly due to concerns about the delusion of minority voters and the seperation of communities of interest — populations which share common social and economic problems — within districts, according to Kansas State Sen. Ethan Corson.
“Kansans weren’t very well served by how we did the congressional redistricting,” Corson said. “It’s now being challenged. There are a lot of flaws in the map, and also in the process that we went through to get those maps.”
The process of redistricting began in August 2021, when Kansas Senate and House of Representatives committees visited 14 cities statewide in five days. In each city, they hosted a city hall where community members could share what they hoped to gain from redistricting.
Following the tour, the process for redistricting began with the creation of four different political district maps of Kansas: the congressional district map, the Senate district map, the House of Representatives map and the Board of Education map.
The congressional district map was the first to get approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, where it moved for final approval by Gov. Laura Kelly. However, the map was vetoed by Kelly for “not aligning” with the guidelines for redistricting due to its separation of communities with similar problems, such as Wyandotte and Johnson Country, which are more focused on unemployment and foreclosures than rural counties who are more focused on highway and farming issues.
“Senate Bill 355, known as Ad Astra 2, does not follow these guidelines and provides no justification for deviation from those guidelines,” Kelly stated in a press statement. “Together, we can come to a consensus and pass a compromise that empowers all people of Kansas.”
The congressional map contained changes to Districts 1-3, which have caused pushback due to the belief that the map dilutes minority votes and are attempts to improve political influence, according to Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes. In District 3 — the district where Prairie Village, Kansas resides — Wyandotte County is split, with only half staying in District 3. Additionally, Jackson County, Anderson County and Miami County — primarily rural counties — were added to District 3. This changes District 3 from solely the KC Metro area, like it’s been in previous years, to a more farming-centered and Republican district, according to Corson.
“The third district has always been the KC Metro area,” Corson said. “But we’ve gone from having a district that was always on the Kansas side of the KC Metro into a district that is half urban and half rural.”
The other half of Wyandotte County was moved from District 3 to District 2, and Lawrence, Kansas was moved into District 1 — a primarily rural district — although the rest of Douglas County, the county Lawrence resides in, remained within District 2.
Following the introduction of the congressional map, two lawsuits were filed from Wyandotte County, both claiming that splitting Wyandotte in half dilutes the minority voter and overall influence of Wyandotte on the voting system.
Additionally, a lawsuit was filed from Lawrence, claiming that moving Lawrence to District 1 was gerrymandering — manipulating boundaries to favor one political party — since the addition of Wyandotte in District 2 added Democratic influence, and moving Lawrence — another democratic city — out was an attempt which to increase republican influence in District 2.
If the congressional map is implemented, Corson believes that it will harm Johnson County and the more rural counties of Anderson, Miami and Franklin since those communities have different sets of interests, harming their representatives ability to address those interests well.
“[Johnson County] has so little in common with those rural counties,” Corson said. “[Franklin, Miami and Anderson] have a different set of issues that they would like to see their elected representatives addressing that are totally different than what an urban suburban area like Johnson County has.”
The congressional redistricting guidelines require each district to hold around 734,470 people, recognize communities of interest, preserve social, cultural, racial and ethnic interests and not dilute minority strength.
The guidelines for legislative redistricting are similar, except that Senate districts should house around 73,447 people and House districts should house around 23,504 people. These guidelines are created so that redistricting benefits the people by allowing them to have a say in elections, according to Sykes.
“We have guidelines that are put in place so populations are as compact and concise as possible,” Sykes said. “They look at current legislative districts and communities of interest. And you also want to make sure that minority votes are not discounted.”
The House of Representatives map has been drawn, and was approved by the House at their meeting on March 22, according to Kansas Rep. and House redistricting committee member Vic Miller. The population of Kansas has migrated from rural communities to the suburban areas of Johnson and Wyandotte County, which is what the new map accounts for. If it passes, it will move onto the Senate for approval, according to Miller.
As far as the Senate district map for the state of Kansas, it was approved by the Senate on March 17 and is currently waiting for approval from the House of Representatives, according to Sykes. Once approved by the other branch, both the Senate and House map will require governor approval. Lastly, the board of education district map will be drawn once the senate map is finalized — since that’s the map the districts are based on.
AP U.S. Government teacher Benjamin Hendricks believes that the current redistrict plans favors higher Republican votes in each district, which will discourage people from voting.
“[The new lines] hurt voter participation,” Hendricks said. “Why vote if there’s no chance that the person you want to win is going to win anyway? People will disconnect from the political process, since they don’t feel like their vote counts.”
The timeline for all four maps to be completed is by the middle to the end of May, in anticipation for the primary election in August, according to Sykes.