The first lawsuit regarding the new redistricting maps has been filed. The ACLU of Kansas and the Campaign Legal Center, along with their attorney’s, have filed suite in Wyandotte County District Court seeking to block the recently enacted Congressional Redistricting Map, claiming it is partisan and racial gerrymander. It was filed on behalf of 10 plaintiffs who live in Johnson or Wyandotte Counties and one who lives in Lawrence. It argues that the new map cracks the most racially diverse County in Kansas, in half, in an attempt to dilute the voices of minority voters. The lawsuit argues that the Congressional Map constitutes partisan and racial gerrymandering, violating the equal rights and political power clauses, free speech and free assembly clauses and the right to suffrage provisions of the Kansas Constitution. The ACLU of Kansas calls it a “brazen attempt to drown the political voices of black, urban voters in a sea of white, rural voters for partisan gains”.
The lawsuit asks the court to grant declaratory and injunctive relief and force the Kansas Legislature to return to the ‘drawing board’ to produce a fair, equitable map.
