The filing deadline for four Johnson County Council seats is being pushed back three weeks after the county GOP chair petitioned a court to move the deadline to accommodate the redistricting process.
Beth Boyce, Johnson County GOP chair, won a petition Friday in a Morgan County court to order the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, auditor and clerk to move the deadline back and conduct the redistricting process during an election year.
The petition did not allege any wrongdoing of the county’s elected officials, but requested more time in light of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the redistricting process, according to a joint statement on the ruling from Boyce and county officials.
Because the coronavirus pandemic delayed the 2020 U.S. Census, the redistricting process that depends on new population data was also delayed. The county had to rush to submit new districts by the end of last year, and did not have time to properly draw the districts, county officials said in the statement.
“The last federal census was in 2020, but as a result of COVID-19 and other delaying factors, the Johnson County Commissioners did not receive Johnson County’s precinct establishment order from the State of Indiana until December 20, 2021, only 11 days before the final statutory deadline under Section 36-2-3-4 of the Indiana Code. As a result of Johnson County’s significant growth over the last decade, the County Council Districts drawn after the previous 2010 federal census were no longer viable,” the statement reads.
“In other words, the Commissioners were obligated to redraw the County Council District maps and boundaries. The full redistricting process that provides the opportunity for public input and comment, however, takes several weeks, and it was therefore impossible for the Commissioners to commence and conclude that process between December 20 and December 31, especially given the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays in that time frame.”
About two weeks ago, the commissioners also received a complaint from two Johnson County residents, Amanda Stevenson-Holmes and Josh King, the chair and vice chair of Johnson County’s Democratic party, respectively. Their attorney asked the commissioners to remedy the imbalanced districts or risk a lawsuit.
The ideal population for each of the four single-member county council districts would be 40,441, representing about a quarter of the county’s 161,765 residents each. Currently, the most populous district has 45,610 residents, and the least populous has 37,706.
Recognizing the maps needed to be redrawn, the commissioners hired Indianapolis Law Firm Kroger Gardis and Regas this week to help with the redistricting process.
The commissioners will review a new county council map during a special meeting at 10 a.m. Feb. 22, and will submit a new map for the public to review by noon on Feb. 17. The public may also submit maps for the commissioners to consider by the same deadline.
A packet of information about the guidelines the commissioners are using to redraw the map is on the county’s website or can be viewed at the commissioner’s office in the Johnson County Courthouse West Annex. Those guidelines are based on the requirements of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Indiana law.
Because the redistricting process will not be completed by the major party candidate filing deadline at noon Feb. 4, the deadline for county council districts 1-4 is pushed back to noon Feb. 25, three days following review of the new map.
