Although the state legislative redistricting failed earlier this year, the redistricting of the Congressional districts passed, as did redistricting of seats within many counties and cities. 

To find what districts you're in now, you can visit the Kentucky Voter Information Center.  

And below are some maps to help visualize the changes for Congressional seats.  A lot of counties got shifted around in some odd ways.  For example, Lincoln County used to be partially in the 1st District and partially in the 6th.  Now it's entirely in the 5th. 

2012 Kentucky Congressional Districts

2011 Kentucky Congressional Districts

Exciting and final news today about legislative redistricting in the Kentucky Legislature:

Kentucky high court blocks use of newly-drawn legislative districts

By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com 

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Supreme Court has blocked implementation of the newly drawn boundaries for state legislative districts, a move that will keep Democratic Sen. Kathy Stein’s district in Lexington. 

In a two-page order issued a few hours after hearing oral arguments in the case Friday morning, the state’s highest court upheld Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd’s ruling that this year’s redistricting was unconstitutional...

For the full Herald-Leader story, click here.

So that's that.  The undemocratic and partisan redistricting plans pushed by Democratic House leadership and Republican Senate leadership have been unanimously deemed unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court. 

We'll keep our old districts for this year's election and the legislature will have to come up with new, and legal redistricting for future years.  Hopefully they'll be less greedy and more likely to listen to the wishes of the people this time.

The ultimate victory was in the courts, but KFTC successfully mobilized people throughout the state on this issue over the last month, organizing two rallies, a successful campaign to ask the Lexington City Council to pass a resolution against the redistricting, had numerous meetings with legislators, wrote letters to the editor and used social media to great effect in raising awareness around a redistricting process that our elected leaders largely tried to slip past the people quietly and quickly. 

Congratulations.  It looks like good government and reason won the day and we should take a moment to celebrate that. 

(adapted from an announcement at www.courts.ky.gov)

The Supreme Court of Kentucky will convene later this morning (Friday, Feb. 24) in Frankfort to hear oral arguments about the constitutionality of the General Assembly’s redrawing of state legislative districts. Proceedings are open to the public and will begin at 10 a.m. EST in the Supreme Court Courtroom, located on the second floor of the state Capitol at 700 Capitol Ave.

The public may also observe oral arguments online via the Supreme Court live stream. 

For more information about the case, visit www.courts.ky.gov

For a backlog of KFTC Blog updates on the redistricting issue, click here

Supreme Court sets oral arguments in legislative redistricting case

By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com 

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the General Assembly’s redrawing of state legislative districts at 10 a.m. on Feb. 24. 

In a two-page order Friday, the high court said each side will be given 15 minutes to argue its case. It also said any other relief sought by legislative leaders has been denied at this time because the court has expedited a hearing. 

Parties involved in the case had to file their records with the Supreme Court by noon Friday. Briefs for the Feb. 24 hearing must be filed by noon Feb. 22. 

At issue is a Feb. 7 ruling by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd that declared Kentucky’s newly-drawn legislative districts unconstitutional. Shepherd also ordered election officials to use previous district lines in this year’s state legislative elections.

For the rest of the Herald-Leader story, Click Here

For a backlog of KFTC Blog updates on the increasingly complicated redistricting issue, Click Here

House Democratic leadership and Senate Republican leadership both know perfectly well that their redistricting plans weren't in the best interest of our Democracy and are wildly unpopular amongst the people of Kentucky, but they're still shamelessly and selfishly fighting to benefit their own careers and they're using tax dollars to do it. 

Appeal of redistricting ruling could cost $220,000 in legal fees

By Jack Brammer and John Cheves jbrammer@herald-leader.com, jcheves@herald-leader.com 

FRANKFORT — The battle over Kentucky’s newly-drawn legislative districts went to the state Supreme Court on Monday at a potential cost of $220,000 in legal fees, most of that to be footed by taxpayers. 

The Legislative Research Commission, which represents House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President David Williams in defending the districts from a constitutional challenge, has budgeted $95,000 for Louisville attorney Sheryl Snyder, although it may end up paying less depending on how much work is necessary. 

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and the state Board of Elections, also defendants, have budgeted $50,000 for the law firms of Tachau Meek in Louisville and Britton Osborne Johnson in Lexington. Those legal fees will be paid with public funds...

To read the rest of this Herald-Leader story, click here.  

The good news is that we seem to be winning. 

KFTC and allies have spent time educating on this issue and we've taken to the streets in protest and have taken action to put pressure on the legislature to do the right thing. 

The Franklin Circuit Court found the partisan redistricting plans to be illegal in numerous ways and the state Supreme Court would be hard-pressed to come to a different conclusion.  

Hopefully they will have a decision soon.

Ashland The Daily Independent
Barbourville Mountain Advocate
Bardstown The Kentucky Standard
Benton Tribune Courier
Bowling Green The Daily News
Corbin Corbin News Journal
Corbin Corbin Times Tribune
Covington The Kentucky Post
Covington The Kentucky Enquirer
Cynthiana Cynthiana Democrat
Danville The Advocate Messenger
Elizabethtown The News-Enterprise
Frankfort State Journal
Georgetown Georgetown News-Graphic
Glasgow Glasgow Daily Times
Greensburg Greensburg Record-Herald
Harlan The Harlan Daily Enterprise
Henderson The Gleaner
Hindman Troublesome Creek Times
Lawrenceburg The Anderson News
Lexington Herald-Leader
London The Sentinel-Echo
Louisa Big Sandy News
Louisville Eccentric Observer
Louisville The Courier-Journal
Maysville The Ledger-Independent
Morehead The Morehead News
Murray Murray Ledger & Times
Nicholasville The Jessamine Journal
Owensboro Owenboro Messenger-Inquirer
Paducah The Paducah Sun
Paintsville The Paintsville Herald
Pikeville Applachian News Express
Prestonsburg Floyd County Times
Richmond Richmond Register
Russellville News Democrat & Leader
Somerset Commonwealth Journal
Springfield The Springfield Sun
Whitesburg The Mountain Eagle
Williamstown Grant County News
Winchester Winchester Sun

    KFTC member Janet Tucker and League of Women Voters President Tammy Fagley each had letters to the editor published in today's Lexington Herald-Leader speaking out against the partisan redistricting process and/or in favor of Judge Shepherd's ruling nullifying it.

    Writing a letter to the editor is something simple and easy that can reach thousands of Kentuckians and help to educate, organize, and build awareness around the issues that we care about.  Even very short letters can be powerful.

    Letters to the editor are a free, effective way to let decision-makers and the community at-large know how you feel about important issues.

    Now is a great time to write a letter that can have an impact on the General Assembly and one of KFTC's priority legislative campaigns.

Your letter to the editor should be:
- Brief (250 words or fewer, depending on the paper), easy to read, and to the point.  Some of the best letters are just a couple of sentences long.
- Focused on one issue, and maybe even one angle of a particular issue.
- Supported by key facts.
- Personal. Describe how you are affected or why you care about this issue.
- A call to action. What do you want decision-makers and members of the public to do?

But most importantly, it should be written - and soon. 

The legislative session is nearly half over, but if you write a letter to the editor this week, it could still make an impact to help steer our legislators in a better direction. 

College Campus Newspapers
EKU Eastern Progress
Murray State News
NKU The Northerner
UK Kentucky Kernel
UofL Cardinal
WKU College Heights Herald

Al Cross, Director of the Institute for Rural Journalism, wrote an interesting and broad piece on redistricting in Kentucky that appeared in today's Courier Journal.  It's worth a read. 

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The redistricting fiasco in Frankfort has shown the Kentucky General Assembly at its worst. Here are chapter, verse and remedy:  It lets problems fester and explode.  The legislature has known for more than a decade that the largely court-written rules for drawing its districts conflict fundamentally, in a way that requires too much splitting of medium-sized counties among districts, but it has taken no action to solve the problem. 

It plays the game by its own rules. 

This year, House Democrats ignored the state constitution and case law and split too many counties. Senate Republicans went so far in punishing their least favorite Democrat that her district would be virtually unrepresented for two years. A judge threw out the bill and said it would be better to use the old districts despite their unbalanced populations. 

Partisanship reigns. 

After the ruling, most legislators seemed to prefer running in their old districts, but leaders of the majorities in each chamber appealed, knowing the old lines would make it easier for them to maintain or increase their numerical advantages in this year’s elections. 

Self-interest trumps public interest.

Read the rest of the opinion piece on the Courier Journal's website Here.

"Do it right, do it fairly this time"

A couple of weeks ago, Democratic House and Republican Senate leadership passed and Governor Beshear signed legislative re-districting plans that are vindictive against specific lawmakers, leave one incumbent lawmaker without a district to run for re-election, leaves citizens of another district represented by a senator from 200 miles away who they didn't vote for, and creates very oddly shaped districts that unnecessarily divide communities and counties.

Fortunately, the Franklin Circuit Court stepped in yesterday and declared the redistricting plans unconstitutional and restored the district lines to how they were last year, tasking the legislature to come up with new – and constitutional – plans.

This is a big incremental victory, but we have to keep up the pressure.

It's possible that the ruling will be appealed to a higher court soon, but in any event, we think legislators have an opportunity and an obligation approve new plans that put constituents and democratic principles, not politics, first.

Take Action

Please call the toll-free Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for your Senator and Representative, plus "House Leadership" and "Senate Leadership."

Leave a message like: "Do the redistricting fairly this time and think of the constituents like me."

And if you have a chance to write a letter to the editor today, please do so to help inform others and put the spotlight on legislators.

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2/9/12 Update - Legislative leaders decide to appeal judge’s ruling on state legislative boundaries.  House Democratic Leadership and Senate Republican leadership have let us down again by pushing to appeal the Franklin court's decision.  You should still keep calling in, but it's likely that the Kentucky Supreme Court will get to weigh in on this issue soon. 

Herald-Leader story by Jack Brammer

PDF: Read the injunction

FRANKFORT — A judge granted House Republicans and Democratic State Sen. Kathy Stein a temporary injunction Tuesday in their legal challenge of Kentucky’s new legislative district boundaries.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd extended the filing deadline for legislative candidates until 4 p.m. Friday.

In an 18-page order, Shepherd blocked Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and other state election officials from implementing the new district boundaries set out in House Bill 1. The General Assembly approved HB 1 and Gov. Steve Beshear signed it into law last month.

“Until the General Assembly passes redistricting legislation that complies with all applicable constitutional requirements to revise the districts (under state law), the elections for the House and Senate shall be conducted with the legislative district boundaries in effect immediately prior to the enactment of House Bill 1 for both the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Shepherd said in Tuesday’s order.

The original filing deadline was Jan. 31. But Shepherd last week issued a restraining order that moved it back to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It now has been extended again.

Shepherd’s order is appealable. It was not immediately known if Lundergan Grimes and the Legislative Research Commission will appeal, but an appeal is expected.

An appeal could take several days and put major action in the state legislature on hold until lawmakers know who their opponents will be in this year’s elections.

Scott White, an attorney for Stein, said “it is our hope that the General Assembly will go back and get the redistricting right. If they appeal, we will continue to fight for a constitutional district in Lexington.”

Stein’s 13th Senate District in central Lexington was moved to northeastern Kentucky under HB 1.

The new law is unconstitutional primarily because it divides more counties into separate legislative districts than necessary, House Republicans have argued. The House plan split 28 counties and 246 precincts, although only 22 counties have more than the roughly 43,000 people that each district must contain. A GOP proposal would have split 24 counties and 10 precincts.

This is tentative, but good news to KFTC as we have spent a lot of effort raising awareness of the unabashedly partisan, ill-spirited, and seemingly unconstitutional redistricting plans passed by House Democrats and Senate Republicans in recent weeks.  

For a summation or earlier reports on this issue on KFTC's blog, click here.

There has been some movement on the redistricting issue in Kentucky these past few days.  Here's a quick update to fill in some of the broad details. 

Republican Minority Leader Jeff Hoover filed an injunction in Franklin Circuit Court to push back the filing deadline in light of the possibly illegal and partisan redistricting.  Senator Kathy Stein joined the lawsuit, then Judge Phillip Shepherd heard the case earlier today and said that he will make a decision before the end of the day tomorrow... which is also the (tentative) deadline to file for office.

In other news, Kentucky House an Senate members have still been unable to agree on a plan for Congressional redistricting which will move back the filing deadline, at least for those offices.  In any event, this casts substantial doubt on Governor Steve Beshear's claim that he was only signing the state house and senate redistricting into law because the impending and at the time apparently immovable deadline was hanging over his head. 

In other news, several legislators have filed separate legislation to make the redistricting process less partisan, more transparent, and more reasonable than it has been this year. 

And finally, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Council has stepped forward with a resolution expressing concern with the redistricting and the loss of Lexington senator Kathy Stein.  A resolution has no legal weight, but it matters.  During our first rally in Lexington on this issue, our primary action was to ask people to contact the mayor and city council to do just this, so they deserve our kudos. 

Here are some good quotes from the Herald-Leader article. 

Councilman Jay McChord said he was "sick and tired of Lexington looking weak, acting weak" at the state level. "If they don't like it up there, so be it. Maybe it is time to send somebody else up there," he said.

Councilman Chris Ford said when an action by Frankfort legislators "harms the citizens of Fayette County, we should stand up and speak."

"This is classic gerrymandering," said council member Julian Beard. "I don't think we should duck our head and go quietly into the night."

Council Members K.C. Crosby, Bill Farmer, and  Ed Lane voted against the resolution and Council Member Diane Lawless was not present for the vote.  All 11 other council members voted yes in favor of the resolution. 

If you're a Lexington resident, please contact your city council member and thank them for voting yes if they did, or express concern if they voted no.  Remember that Vice Mayor Linda Gorton, and Council At-Large members Steve Kay and Chuck Ellinger all represent everyone in Lexington.  So they're your council members too.

_________________________________

2/1/12 Update - Judge delays filing deadline for state legislative candidates to Feb 7th.   This creates space for the Franklin Circuit court to take further action by that time, possibly declaring the redistricting to be illegal and asking the legislature to try again or taking some other action to intervene.  We'll know more by the end of the day on Feb 7th.    

2/2/12 Update - House, Senate appear close on congressional redistricting plan.  There has been some movement on the Congressional redistricting plan too.  Note that this is separate from the state legislature plan at issue above.  We're still waiting for the Franklin Circuit Court ruling by Feb 7th on that one.  In the mean time, you can take a moment to write a letter to the editor to let your community know how you feel about these partisan redistricting plans.

2/6/12 Update - Judge says he will rule in a day or two on legislative redistricting.  We might know something tomorrow or the filing deadline might get pushed back a little more.