The filing deadline for Kansas elections is approaching, and Douglas County voters will see a number of changes as a result of the state’s newly redrawn electoral maps.

Maps setting new district boundaries for both congressional representatives and Kansas’ state House and Senate were approved during this year’s legislative session. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew told the Journal-World Thursday afternoon that one effect of those new maps is a change in the candidate filing deadline for any districts that are directly affected by them. That means that instead of the original June 1 deadline, candidates in congressional and state legislative races will have until June 10 to file.

Other races — including Douglas County’s 1st District commission seat and statewide races like the governor’s race — will retain the original June 1 deadline.

Shew said the county is still waiting on official versions of the approved maps for drawing precincts, so that particular piece of the puzzle remains a work in progress. However, he confirmed that his office has already been working to reflect the new divisions and other changes in the county’s internal systems.

Shew said that when the work to reflect those changes is complete, Douglas County voters will receive a new voter card in the mail listing district assignments and the elected representatives they’d be voting for if their district has changed.

Locally, the race for the Douglas County Commission’s 1st District as of Thursday had three candidates vying for the seat, which is currently held by Patrick Kelly.

Kelly filed for reelection May 10 and will face an Aug. 2 primary against fellow Democratic candidate Dustin Stumblingbear, a former Lawrence City Commission candidate who filed for election at the beginning of 2022. The third candidate, Justin Spiehs, is the only Republican in the race and filed to run in April. Spiehs is a Lawrence resident who has likened mask-wearing to child abuse and who is facing felony charges.

Shew said that eligibility to hold elected office is tied to voting eligibility, and that if a candidate were convicted of a felony, they would be unable to run in an election or hold an elected office.

The County Commission race is unaffected by any of the new redistricting maps. Shew said the reapportioning process for commission districts won’t happen until later this year because the Douglas County Commission approved adding a question on the November general election ballot about expanding the commission from three members to five.

The positions up for election in 2022 that have been most widely impacted by the state’s new maps are Kansas House of Representatives seats. All 125 of the state’s House positions are up for election.

Lawrence currently has four Democratic representatives who each represent a portion of the city — Christina Haswood, Barbara Ballard, Mike Amyx and Dennis “Boog” Highberger. Based on candidate filing information from the Kansas Secretary of State’s office as of Thursday, all four of them have filed for reelection. Of that group, Ballard’s race is the only one that is contested so far; Lawrence resident Alessia Roark, also a Democrat, is the other candidate in that district’s race.

Outside of Lawrence, Republican Lance Neelly will still represent part of Eudora and has filed for reelection. Douglas County will also inherit portions of three other districts, plus an entirely new one — District 117 — that currently doesn’t have an elected representative living within its borders. That district will represent the southern portion of Eudora, but more than 80% of its population resides in Johnson County.

Other portions of Douglas County will include three districts whose elected officials currently represent neighboring counties. That includes Mark Samsel (R-Wellsville), William Sutton (R-Gardner) and Ronald Ellis (R-Meriden). Of the three, only Sutton has an opponent: Democratic candidate Keith Davenport, also of Gardner.

Kansas’ gubernatorial races are unaffected by redistricting. In the race for governor, incumbent Gov. Laura Kelly will be running with Lt. Gov. David Toland. One other Democrat has also filed: Richard S. Karnowski. On the Republican side, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is in the running, and several other GOP candidates have also filed: Richard Duncan, Chase LaPorte and Kent McElroy.