Idaho Supreme Court upholds new congressional district map
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Rebecca Boone, Associated Press
BOISE (AP) — The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the state’s newly drawn congressional district map, rejecting a challenge from a man who said the map improperly split some local voting precincts.
In the unanimous ruling handed down Friday, Justice John Stegner said the map drawn by the bipartisan Idaho Commission for Reapportionment was submitted within the required time limit, and that the map boundaries were drawn according to state law.
The commission is tasked every 10 years with redrawing both legislative and congressional voting districts based on the most recent census. Four separate lawsuits were also filed challenging the commission’s legislative district map, and the Idaho Supreme Court rejected those arguments in a ruling late last month.
The lawsuit challenging the congressional district map came from Elmore County resident Christopher Pentico, who said the congressional map improperly split some local voting precinct boundary lines, potentially disrupting the election process at the county level. But the attorney general representing the commission said voting precincts are frequently redrawn by county commissioners, and that the ones in Ada County that were split by the new map were already slated to be redrawn.
In the high court’s ruling, Stegner said Pentico’s claims were without merit. The high court noted that precincts, when they are redrawn, must conform with legislative districts, not congressional districts.
The ruling means the May 17 primary election can move forward as planned.