County Voting Districts to be Redrawn with Minimal Input from Voters Apparently

Former chairman of the Missouri House budget committee Allen Icet described Monday how reapportionment of voters into St. Louis County districts would likely come down to a partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats.

Icet, a Republican, co-chairs the county's 14-member Reapportionment Commission which is tasked with determining new boundaries for St. Louis County's seven voting districts by late November.

Democrat Don Calloway is the other co-chair, and was not present at Monday's gathering. The commission is made up of two people from each district, one Democrat and one Republican.

In terms of the process, Icet said the two parties would likely caucus separately, then Icet and Calloway would come to the table with several rough plans apiece, and hammer it out from there.

"None of us have done this before, we are new to this," Icet said, referring specifically to redistricting.

Icet served in the state house of representatives in the 2000s, and then lost a 2010 primary race to state Auditor Tom Schweich.

The majority of the Commission who showed up Monday for the meeting said they had served as elected officials in state and city governments.

The reason for the redrawing of the map is that the 2010 Census showed four of the county's seven districts losing voters while three (western and southern) districts gained population.

County Planner Bill Schwulst said the population shift west is a 30-year trend here.

Each of the seven districts is required to be somewhat evenly populated, with an estimated 142,500 each indicated on a county map.

Monday's meeting lasted 20 minutes, with two speakers from the public at large. The  a week ago had only one speaker.

John Judd, a resident of District 6 (South County) said since his district had to lose about 2,913 voters, the north eastern boundary of the current district should simply follow Gravois Road, instead of jogging north to the St. Louis City boundary.

Judd also said he looked for north county districts to be more racially balanced, naming specifically "African-Americans." It was not immediately clear which boundaries he was referring to.

Maryland Heights Republican Committeeman Tom Wilsdon also addressed the Commission Monday, saying his subdivision had been split in half in District 3, and he didn't like it.

Voting districts must be "compact and contiguous," Wilsdon said, referring to legal standards.

Wilsdon also said he believed County districts should follow main thoroughfares radiating out from St. Louis "like the spokes of a wheel." He said "that's the way it has always been," naming Olive and Manchester roads as examples.

In 2000, reapportionment of statewide districts led to a court decision after a commission could not come to consensus on a map during a reasonable time.

"We hope to finalize our decision by early November," Icet said during Monday's presentation. "We have a statutory deadline of Thanksgiving."

County Planner Schwulst summarized the goal for listeners, Monday.

"It's everyone's hope it doesn't have to go to the courts this time," Schwulst said.

Wilsdon said afterward the county commission would need 8 of 14 votes for a draft, and likely 9 of 14 votes for final approval—slightly over a two-thirds majority.

A third presentation is planned for Mon., 7pm at University of Missouri St. Louis campus in the J.C. Penney building.

No discussion of new boundaries was a part of Monday's meeting.

Subsequent meetings over boundaries by the Commission are also public, Icet said. It was unclear when those begin, but the headquarters is in Clayton, the county seat of government.

Over the course of U.S. history, cases of gerrymandering have come into play, when districts were intentionally divided in a way that gives one faction an unfair voting advantage over others.