photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

In the wake of the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the congressional redistricting maps passed by the Legislature earlier this year, the Douglas County Clerk’s Office announced Wednesday that it is in the process of building those changes into its internal systems ahead of this year’s elections.

According to information released on Douglas County government’s social media channels, the clerk’s office has already been preparing for implementing those new maps when approved, knowing there could be a number of new precinct splits plus added precincts and districts to consider.

When the work to reflect those changes is complete, voters should expect to receive a new voter card in the mail with their new district assignments.

The court released its opinion Wednesday morning, and the new map will officially move Lawrence out of the state’s 2nd District and into the sprawling 1st District dominated largely by small conservative communities in central and western Kansas.

A separate case also unanimously upheld new boundaries for Kansas Senate and Kansas House of Representative districts. State Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, had challenged the validity of these new districts, arguing he was being gerrymandered out of his seat. The new maps remove portions of Lawrence that were in his current district and replace them with a large amount of territory in Johnson County.