The Johnson County Election Office is working on the changes needed to the county’s precincts because of new election maps. Wednesday, the Kansas Supreme Court voted to uphold newly redrawn congressional and legislative districts in Kansas. This specifically impacts four maps: U.S. Congress, Kansas Senate, Kansas House of Representatives and State Board of Education.

• The new Kansas State Senate map has 10 senate districts either all (six) or part (four) in Johnson County.
• The former Kansas Senate map had nine senate districts either all (seven) or part (two) in Johnson County.
• The new Kansas State House map has 27 house districts either all (23) or part (four) in Johnson County.
• The former Kansas State House map had 25 house districts either all (21) or part (four) in Johnson County.
• The new State Board of Education map has three districts partly in Johnson County.
• The old State Board of Education map had three districts either all (one) or part (two) in Johnson County.

The Election Office is working hard to make sure everything is in place for a successful upcoming election season. There is an expert team in place, working on changes based on the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision. Voters will get confirmation on their precinct and polling places in a timely fashion. The Election Office is confident upcoming elections will run smoothly regardless of the creation of new jurisdictional maps.

“Redistricting takes place every ten years. Now that a decision has been made at the state level, we’ve been given the baton to basically start integrating and codifying these new jurisdictional maps into the voter registration system,” said Fred Sherman, Johnson County Election Commissioner. “It is an important task that we need to make sure we do quickly, accurately and correctly.”

Filing Deadlines

June 1: Remains the filing deadline for all local races including township, county commission and chairman races and precinct committee races. The Johnson County Election Office advises candidates to file their precinct based on their address.

June 10: Extended filing deadline for races directly impacted by redistricting (the four maps mentioned above).

Party Affiliation

The deadline for voters to change party affiliation is at noon on June 10.  Voters must complete a new voter registration form to change their political party affiliation. Unaffiliated voters may affiliate with a political party, if desired, after June 10 and up to election day, August 2. Unaffiliated voters may also affiliate with a political party, if desired, at the polls on election day.

What’s Next

The Election Office will codify new district lines with existing precincts. That means renaming and renumbering some precincts. Right now, there are a little more than 520 precincts. 60-80 precincts will be created with redistricting and there will be more than 600 in total once all is said and done.

The Election Office anticipates having this work completed by June 1 and the new data input into the Kansas Voter Registration System for voters to search.

Information will also be mailed to all households with at least one registered voter by early July. This mailer will provide the household’s polling place and precinct information for the August 2 election.