Work is underway to divide Johnson County into districts under a new state law. What to know:
Work is underway to comply with a state-mandated change that could reshape the future of Johnson County's governing body.
Senate File 75, a change to state law passed and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in April, requires Story, Black Hawk and Johnson counties to elect their county supervisors via districts instead of at-large.
In a letter addressed to the governor in April, the Johnson County supervisors urged Reynolds to veto the bill, saying it "targets" just three of 99 counties in the state and "strips them of their right to choose how their local governments are elected."
"No matter how it is framed, this bill singles out counties that happen to elect local leaders who reflect the views of their diverse constituencies," the supervisors wrote. "That's not democracy in service to all, it's policymaking designed to produce different electoral outcomes."
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Johnson County will be split up into five districts, equal in population, that spread across the entire county. One supervisor will be elected from each district.
What to know about the new election process:
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has appointed a three-member redistricting commission comprised of residents from around the area. The commissioners are Susan Dvorsky of Coralville, Nathan Mueller of Solon and Thomas McInerney of Iowa City.
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The Johnson County Democrats chose Dvorsky and Mueller with support from the local board of supervisors. The county Republican party selected McInerney. The board met a May 15 deadline to establish the commission.
The commission is now tasked with drawing five districts with equal populations within Johnson County.
The temporary county redistricting commission will also hold "at least one public hearing to receive public comments about the plan."
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A brief outline from Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chair Jon Green in board documents revealed plans for four public meetings in the summer and early fall, three daytime meetings, and one in the evening.
The county redistricting commission's final plans for the 2026 elections must be in place by Oct. 1, 2025.
The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency will then officially draw the districts by the end of the year.
The five-person Johnson County Board of Supervisors will all be up for election in 2026, once the districts have been finalized.
If this law had not been set to take effect, only two of the five board members — Green and V Fixmer-Oraiz — would be up for election. Instead, Rod Sullivan, Lisa Green-Douglass and Mandi Remington are now poised to run a second election campaign in three years, having just been elected to four-year terms in 2024.
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To offset future elections after the redistricting, the Johnson County Auditor's Office will randomly select two of the five districts for a 2028 supervisors election, according to board documents. The remaining three candidates will be elected to the typical four-year term.
Several of the current supervisors could retain their seats depending on how the districts are drawn.
The county has just over 160,000 total residents, the most recent census estimates show, meaning each of the five districts should contain about 32,000 people.
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Iowa City is in the center of the county and could find itself within several districts. A U.S. Census estimate puts Iowa City's population at around 76,000 as of July 1, 2024, meaning the city could include two of the five districts.
Fixmer-Oraiz, Remington and Sullivan all listed addresses in Iowa City in their most recent filings. Green-Douglass' address is listed in North Liberty, while Green's address is in Lone Tree.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Johnson County redistricting begins ahead of 2026 supervisor elections
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