Iowa governor signs plan on state’s new voting maps into law

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed the state’s redistricting plan into law, finalizing the once-in-a-decade task complicated this year by late U.S. Census data that pushed the state past constitutional deadlines.

Reynolds announced Thursday night she had signed legislation redrawing the legislative and congressional districts.

The Iowa Legislature on Oct. 28 passed a redistricting plan created by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. It was the second set of maps after Iowa Senate Republicans rejected the first plan drawn by the LSA on Oct. 5.

“I am confident in how the process played out — just as the law intended, and I believe these new districts will fairly and accurately represent the citizens of Iowa for the next decade,” Reynolds said in a statement.

The new maps will be effective beginning with the 2022 elections.

In new maps push Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne and Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks into the same congressional district. Axne has not said whether she will seek re-election. Miller-Meeks has said she will run but she has not decided whether she will move to remain in her redrawn district, now knows as Congressional District 1.

Twenty state senators and 38 House incumbents are paired in the same district and must decide whether to move, run against another incumbent or drop out.

The redistricting process was delayed this year because census data came in later than usual as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.