Overhaul of Lexington’s redistricting process moves forward. What’s changing and why
The Lexington council is considering some substantial changes to how district lines can be redrawn and who can sit on the committee that oversees redistricting.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council General Government and Social Services Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to move the new redistricting guidelines to the full council.
The full council is expected to take its first vote on changes to the redistricting ordinance at the Nov. 29 council work session.
Some of the proposed changes were unveiled during a General Government and Social Services Committee meeting in October. A council subcommittee has been working on tweaks to the ordinance for several months.
But a question about a section that would allow the redistricting of sitting council members out of their districts — and what that would mean for election laws — stalled efforts to move the changes in the ordinance forward during the October meeting.
Evan Thompson, a lawyer for the city, told the committee Tuesday that if a council member is redistricted out of their current council district, they could run in the new council district.
Some of the proposed changes include not allowing people who are appointed to the committee that redraws the council district boundaries from running for a council district seat for three years after the committee meets. The committee members must also have voted in at least three of the last five general elections and live in the council district.
Legally, the city can’t prohibit someone from running. But council members can ask their representatives on the committee not to run, said Councilwoman Susan Lamb.
The council district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years after the U.S. Census to account for population shifts in the city.
Each of the city’s 15 council members appoints a person to the redistricting committee. Redistricting committee members would not be prohibited from running in the at-large race, which is city-wide and does not depend on district boundaries.
People who have sat on the redistricting committee have later run for office.
In 2021, Brenda Monarrez, who won the 4th Council District race Nov. 8, and Rock Daniels, who lost in the 11th Council District, served on the redistricting committee and then later filed to run for office.
Other changes include doing away with a provision that ensures sitting council members are not redistricted out of their current districts.
That prohibition proved problematic during the 2021 redistricting process because some council members live near each other, creating headaches when the boundaries were redrawn.
The work group also proposed removing language that prohibits neighborhood associations from being split or separated into different council districts. Another provision added to the ordinance would protect communities of interest, which would include neighborhood associations, city staff said.
