FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Lawmakers are at odds on whether to postpone redistricting for a year to avoid gumming up an upcoming legislative session that's already chock-full of hefty issues.
Robert Stivers, the incoming Republican Senate president, says lawmakers aren't rushed to redraw boundaries around legislative districts because the next round of elections isn't until 2014. Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo wants the process over as quickly as possible after lawmakers convene Jan. 8.
The last legislative redistricting effort ended in political turmoil, eventually making its way to the state Supreme Court. Justices concluded that legislative districts redrawn by lawmakers were not balanced by population. The justices ruled they had to be redrawn to comply with the "one person, one vote" mandate in federal and state law.
