Democratic state Rep. Patti Minter of Bowling Green is among Kentucky lawmakers condemning House Bill 2, which lays out the Republican majority’s plans for redrawing representative districts using 2020 U.S. census data.

“Voters believe, rightly, that they choose their elected representatives,” Minter told the Daily News on Thursday after the legislation moved out of the Kentucky House by a 71-19 margin.

However, with the proposed redistricting maps only available for review for a few days, and with Republicans racing to final passage, Minter accused GOP lawmakers of subverting the will of voters.

“There has been no opportunity for input. … The people deserve to have their say,” Minter said of her constituents in House District 20 and others across Kentucky affected by the changes. “I think people across the political spectrum, across party lines, all want to be heard.”

Also Thursday, a bill recasting the state Senate’s 38 districts easily cleared the Senate, with a handful of lawmakers objecting, according to The Associated Press. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers, meaning the GOP has the power to override any vetoes by Gov. Andy Beshear.

The House changes are stark when viewed through a mapping tool created by Louisville-area data scientist Robert Kahne at kypoliticaldata.com. For example, much of the west end of Bowling Green – fanning out across Russellville and Nashville roads – has been given to House District 17, which is currently represented by Republican state Rep. Steve Sheldon, who represents Minter’s ideological opposite.

Minter said the changes also divide much of the Bowling Green Independent School District and Western Kentucky University communities, moving them out into the county for no good reason.

“They cracked the city of Bowling Green, and there’s no good reason to do so,” Minter said of the changes.

Further, the redistributed voter precincts on the west end of Bowling Green are primarily “communities of interest,” which in redistricting-speak often means communities where people of color predominate. Minter cast the changes as a GOP attempt to “diminish their voices,” she said.

Speaking on the Kentucky House floor Thursday, Minter questioned why the changes needed to be passed immediately, especially given that lawmakers also successfully pushed the filing deadline to run for public office to Jan. 25. Minter also said she’d heard from several of her constituents who asked why they had not been consulted.

“They want to know why their voices have not only not been heard, but have not been sought,” Minter said. “There’s no reason to hurry this up.”

Minter also elaborated on changes she said will “crack the city of Bowling Green at its historic core.”

“For the first time, the Bowling Green Independent School District … has been cracked. The school where my son went to elementary school (W.R. McNeill Elementary) is no longer in the district under this plan. It’s five minutes from my house,” Minter said. “I no longer have Parker-Bennett-Curry … which is in a community of interest, where many people are concerned that they’ve not been consulted and they wonder why their voices might be diluted …

“This proposed bill cracks the west side of Bowling Green, which is where the largest minority population and communities of interest are. This cracks it into three districts … that dilutes their voices and it’s not mathematically defensible,” Minter said.

Going forward in the legislative session, Minter said she would be willing to support legislation that would take the redistricting process out of the hands of lawmakers and put it under the control of an independent nonprofit, as she has in the past, she said.