Last Redistricting Hearing Done

Last Redistricting Hearing Done

Only a dozen folks last night in Des Moines. Perennial candidate Jeremy Walters (R) complains, but since he's lost in about three different districts he should be OK.

Dennis Black has noted that his is one of the two Senate districts that's split between congressional districts (because 50 doesn't divide by four). I've found the other: the pair of Republican Merlin Bartz and Democrat Mary Jo Wilhelm in District 26 on the Minnesota Border.

A WTF comment at the Cedar Rapids hearing:

Carmen Halverson of Cedar Falls and others had more local concerns about House and Senate districts having jagged boundaries that make it hard for voters and campaign workers to know which district they're located.

Halverson pointed to House District 62, near Raymond, as one example. She'd like a smoother, easier to understand boundary line.

"It looks as though it's a toothbrush," she said.

That's Deborah Berry's... looks to me like most of the lines are city limits and the Cedar River.

In Plymouth County, they're looking ahead to county redistricting:

Le Mars residents Ralph Klemme, representing the Republican party, and Dennis Wolf, the Democratic party, along with Supervisor Jack E. Guenthner will serve on the committee.

Again referring to "Plymouth County Democrat" in the singular, though this is a different one Democrat than they names last time.

And in that inadvertend argument for consolidating counties, double-size Kossuth, they appear to think McKinley Bailey got re-elected.