Reapportionment Committee elects co-chairs, appoints Kevin Johnston as ninth member and sets Nov. 30 redistricting deadline

The Reapportionment Committee elected Senator Kelly and Speaker Ritter as its co-chairs and confirmed Kevin Johnston as the panel’s ninth member during a brief virtual organizational meeting, members said.

The House speaker opened the meeting and emphasized the panel’s constitutional duty to finish the redistricting work in a timely way. “We have a constitutional requirement to get this done,” the House speaker said, urging cooperation across members to meet the schedule.

Senator Kelly said the committee faces a compressed timetable because the census data arrived later than in past cycles and noted members have until about Nov. 30 to complete their work. Kelly invited public input and pointed people to online mapping tools, naming Dave’s Redistricting and Redistricted as places the public can use to create and review proposed maps.

A member moved to elect Senator Kelly and Speaker Ritter as co-chairs of the Reapportionment Committee; the motion was seconded and adopted by voice vote. After the vote, the chairing role passed to the newly elected co-chairs.

On the next agenda item, Senator Kelly nominated Kevin Johnston, a former state senator, state representative and state auditor who previously served as the committee’s ninth member in 2011. The nomination was seconded and approved by voice vote, with members announcing that Johnston is the committee’s ninth member.

Senator Duff offered brief remarks reaffirming his intent to work collaboratively with the panel. With no further business, a motion to adjourn was made and approved by voice vote.

The committee asked for public input as it begins mapping and reminded interested parties that digital mapping tools are available to test district lines. The meeting concluded without votes on any specific maps or redistricting plans; members emphasized timing and cooperation as the next steps.