Topeka ? The inability of legislative negotiators to agree on a plan for redrawing U.S. House districts has Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh worried about the state’s primary election calendar.

Three senators and three House members appointed to draft the final version of a congressional redistricting bill didn’t meet Thursday.

“Congressional redistricting is the one that’s creating heartburn for us right now,” Thornburgh said.

Political boundaries needed redrawing this year to account for shifts in population during the 1990s.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that a plan redrawing Kansas’ 40 Senate districts met all legal and constitutional requirements. With that decision, the Senate plan joined state House and Board of Education maps in Kansas law.

At the beginning of the session, legislative leaders said they planned to have the congressional plan finished by early March. Lawmakers couldn’t meet that deadline.

Thornburgh said if the process wasn’t finished by June 11, the filing deadline for legislative, congressional and Board of Education candidates would become July 12, making it difficult to hold Democratic and Republican primaries on Aug. 6, as scheduled.

Thornburgh’s office already has pushed the filing deadline to June 24 to accommodate redistricting.

The filing deadline remains June 10 for candidates in offices not affected by redistricting U.S. senator, governor, attorney general, insurance commissioner, secretary of state and state treasurer.

Thornburgh said the primary election calendar could change if someone filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging a congressional plan.

“There is no room for error in this map,” Thornburgh said. “If there is a court challenge, it goes to federal court and it becomes convoluted and difficult, and we lose all control of the time frame.”

After a week of negotiations, legislative negotiators haven’t resolved the chambers’ and political parties’ differences.

Sticking points include southeast Kansas, where officials want the region unified in one district, and the city of Lawrence.

Most of Douglas County, including Lawrence, is in the 3rd District, represented by Rep. Dennis More a Johnson County resident and the only Democrat in Kansas’ congressional delegation.

Democratic negotiators said their main goal was to keep the city of Lawrence in one piece and within the 3rd District. Many of the plans presented by Republicans would split the city between the 2nd and 3rd districts.

Republicans worried about voter registration numbers in the 2nd District, represented by Rep. Jim Run. But not all GOP negotiators could support a map that achieved the desired percentages.

A map approved earlier by the Senate would split southeast Kansas among three congressional districts placing the state’s southeastern corner in the same district as the northwestern corner.

Congressional redistricting bill is Senate Sub for House Sub for HB 3012. Senate redistricting plan is Sub for SB 256.