Non-partisan panel would keep politics out of legislative maps

Get ready, folks. Redistricting is coming for Kansas.

By

Opinion

May 17, 2021 - 8:32 AM

Topeka State Capital

Get ready, folks. Redistricting is coming for Kansas.

The state House of Representatives has formed a committee that will draw new legislative maps next session.

As a wise man once said, hoo boy.

When Kansas went through the process last time, it was a brutal and ugly fight. No consensus was reached, and the courts had to step in to draw the maps.

The problem here is obvious. Republicans want to draw maps that favor their party. You can call it gerrymandering, but legal cheating works just as well. There are more than enough Democrats in Kansas to elect U.S. representatives from their party — but if you draw the districts differently and split the votes in Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, suddenly the GOP takes all the seats.

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