Topeka ? With the boundaries of the state’s four U.S. House districts still in doubt, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh isn’t sure holding a primary in eight weeks is realistic.

A congressional redistricting plan passed by the Legislature and reluctantly signed into law by Gov. Bill Graves is at the center of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by Attorney General Carla Stovall. She has asked the court to consider postponing the Aug. 6 primary if necessary.

Stovall sued Thornburgh, the state’s chief elections officer. Democrats, the state’s four American Indian tribes, and Rep. Mike O’Neal, chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, also want to intervene, meeting a Monday deadline for seeking permission to do so.

In his request, O’Neal defended the Legislature’s map as constitutional but offered an alternative plan just in case.

On Friday, a three-judge panel pushed back the filing deadline for congressional candidates to July 9. It had been June 24.

That order could put the primary in jeopardy, according to Thornburgh.

“I will work to preserve the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary,” Thornburgh said Monday. “This is difficult due to the recent ruling by the federal court.”

According to Thornburgh, the court will have to approve other changes to the election calendar for the primary to occur as scheduled.

“We are required by federal and state law to meet certain deadlines pertaining to overseas military ballots, advance ballots and notification to the public of the election,” said Thornburgh. “We will ask the court to consider these deadlines when making their final ruling.”

As an example of a deadline that could pose a problem, Thornburgh’s office noted that county election commissioners are required to publish notices of the election three weeks in advance. An Aug. 6 primary would require such notices to be published July 15 only six days after the filing deadline for congressional candidates.

“Our biggest concern is that there is a certain amount of voter apathy. If we add confusion to the mix, what does that do to the sentiment of the electorate?” said Thornburgh spokesman Jesse Borjon. “It is best to try and preserve the dates that are in place.”

Stovall filed the lawsuit after residents of Junction City complained. They were upset that the congressional redistricting plan approved by the Legislature put the city in the 1st District with western Kansas, separating it from neighboring Fort Riley, which would remain in the 2nd District with much of eastern Kansas.

Lawmakers redrew district lines this year to account for shifts in population over the last decade.

Stovall said the separation of the military town from the fort disrupted a major community of interest.

In their request to intervene, the state’s four Indian tribes said that the Legislature’s map, an alternative submitted to the judges by Stovall’s office, and a plan offered by Democrats all would dilute the tribes’ “minority voice.”

The tribes want to keep all four reservations in northeast Kansas in the 2nd District with Junction City, Fort Riley, Manhattan and all of Douglas County, including the city of Lawrence.

Democrats asked to be included because the map approved by lawmakers and the alternative offered by the attorney general split the city of Lawrence between the 2nd and 3rd districts.

Late Monday, Democrats filed a new plan that took into account some of the tribes’ concerns.

O’Neal disagreed with the claims made by Stovall and the Democrats. He defended the Legislature’s plan to redraw the four districts as “constitutionally sound.”

But he offered the court another map that would avoid the split of Junction City from Fort Riley by putting Geary and Riley counties in the 1st District.

“The complaint of the attorney general has nothing to do with what congressional district Junction City was placed in,” O’Neal wrote.

O’Neal argued that Stovall’s and the Democrat’s plans would take the 1st District too far to the east. He also argued the Democrats’ plan to keep Lawrence whole would split Johnson County, violating its community of interest.

Arguments before the three-judge panel are expected to begin the first week of July.