Lexington, KY - In a ruling issued late Tuesday afternoon, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd overturned House Bill 1, recently signed by Gov. Steve Beshear, that would have sent Senator Kathy Stein's Lexington District to northeastern Kentucky.
The ruling placed an injunction on the redistricting, citing too much of a disparity in population in what would be House District 80, which Shepherd's ruling states has greater than 5 percent more population than 43,394, the ideal split of total Kentucky citizens. The ruling also cites previous case law that requires counties be split as little as possible. Shepherd states that too many were split. A floor amendment to HB1, that was rejected by legislators, had offered an alternative in which fewer counties would be split than the bill signed by the governor.
"The 113,000 citizens in Fayette County were awarded some justice today," said Sen. Stein, referring to her 13th District constituency." People from all over the state were incensed by the arrogance HB1 displayed to every Kentuckian, so we are pleased that our constitutional challenge was ruled correct by Judge Shepherd. We now await decisions made by others in the lawsuit, and whether they will appeal or not. We are prepared to move forward in any of the circumstances which might occur."
status quo
In his findings over the disenfranchisement of Lexington voters, Shepherd said: "The Court recognizes that Senate Districts have been re-assigned to new geographic territory, and that to some degree such re-assignments are necessary to address shifts in population." In the past issues such as those have been upheld by the Attorney General, however "Öthere are no reported cases in which a challenge has been brought by voters who claim their right to vote for a senator has been impaired. Again, this Court concludes that these issues warrant a full adjudication on the merits, and it is necessary to maintain the pending a final adjudication because in the absence of injunctive relief.'"
Shepherd also stated "the Court can find no basis for holding that the law allows the General Assembly the right to delay one citizen's vote for a senator by advancing the right of other citizens' vote for a senator." This is in reference to the prospect of citizens of the 4th Senate District going back to the polls to vote on a senator two years after electing Sen. Dorsey Ridley who would have been placed geographically in Stein's former territory, while forcing those who voted in Stein's district in 2008 to wait until 2014 to vote for senate representation again.