The Hawaii Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily prohibited the state Office of Elections and chief election officer from making nomination papers available pending resolution of a legal challenge over the districts, which were redrawn following the 2020 census and would take effect for the 2022 elections.

Filing for this year’s political elections in Hawaii was set to begin on Tuesday.

A group of 11 Hawaii residents, including Madge Schaefer of Kihei, filed a petition with the Hawaii Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the 2021 Hawaii Reapportionment Commission’s recently adopted reapportionment plan, which contains some new state legislative districts that will alter how some Hawaii residents, including those on Maui, will be represented at the State Capitol.

The group, “Reapportionment Justice Coalition,” represented by Honolulu attorney Mateo Caballero, claims that the final plan “is constitutionally defective and invalid,” as it does not comply with the requirement under the Hawaii Constitution that House districts be “wholly within” Senate districts where practicable. It also doesn’t follow a Hawaii Revised Statutes requirement that legislative districts be “wholly within” Congressional districts, where practicable.

A map shows the newly drawn up state House of Representative districts for Maui County. A group of 11 Hawaii residents filed a petition with the Hawaii Supreme Court challenging a recently adopted reapportionment plan that will change some legislative districts in the wake of the 2020 census. Map courtesy of the state Reapportionment Commission

One example on Maui is Senate District 6, which encompassed South and West Maui. But under the new plan, Senate District 6 will include portions of two separate House districts in Central Maui — Legends at Maui Lani in Kahului, which is part of House District 9, and Waikapu Gardens, which is in House District 8. These communities will now be represented by a senator who predominantly has constituents in South and West Maui.

Other changes on Maui include folding House District 8, which included Kahakuloa, Waihee, Waiehu, Puuohala, Wailuku and Waikapu, and instead creating a House District 14 that will encompass West Maui as well as Kahakuloa, Waihee and part of Waiehu. House District 10, which spanned North Kihei, Maalaea and West Maui, will morph into a Central Maui district covering Wailuku and Waikapu.

The legal challenge is against the Reapportionment Commission and its members, the state Office of Elections and Scott Nago, the chief elections officer.

In an email Thursday morning, Nago said the office does not comment on pending litigation.

Reapportionment Commission Chairman Mark Mugiishi could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

Reapportioned state Senate districts for Maui County are shown. One of the changes includes expanding Senate District 6, which currently encompasses South and West Maui, to include the Legends at Maui Lani and Waikapu Gardens subdivisions. Map courtesy of the state Reapportionment Commission

The Hawaii Supreme Court has ordered the subjects of the legal challenge to file an answer to the petition by March 3.

Reapportionment is conducted every 10 years following the U.S. census, and the commission’s job is to ensure each political district is created equally using census data. Members are appointed by leaders in the state House and Senate. After months of review, the 2021 commission approved the final legislative maps in January.

At a virtual news conference Thursday afternoon, prior to the Hawaii Supreme Court’s order, Caballero said the group is seeking to have the court invalidate the reapportionment plan and have new maps drawn up.

The group would also like to temporarily suspend the process of accepting nomination papers for the state legislative seats until the matter is resolved.

The current filing deadline for the candidates is June 7.

In an interview Thursday morning, Schaefer said she does not want to slow down the election process and hopes things proceed quickly.

But she said she had to get involved as “10 years is a long time to suffer under poor mapping.”

Schaefer was not directly involved with the recent reapportionment process but served on the Maui Advisory Council to the Hawaii Reapportionment Commission during the 2001 and 2011 reapportionment processes.

Schaefer was concerned over the four members of the commission’s technical committee that drew up the maps in its own meetings, which were not open to the public.

Schaefer said when she participated years ago the process was more transparent.

During the news conference, Schaefer said the districting should have been easy in Maui County with three Senate districts and six House districts, allowing two House districts to be assigned to each Senate district. She said the populations among the House districts are pretty close in number.

At the news conference, petitioners and supporters from across the state said they presented the commission with alternatives that are compliant with the law, but it went nowhere.

The group is lead by Bill Hicks of Oahu, who also cited districting issues with Oahu and Hawaii island.

Hicks said having the full House districts in a Senate district leads to more effective leadership and assistance for constituents. This can also assist lawmakers who may not need to focus on multiple districts.

The group said in a news release that 35 House districts out of 51 are not fully contained within one Senate district.

Multiple Senate districts span across six House districts and multiple House districts on Oahu and Hawaii island span across four Senate districts.

Other changes to Maui County districts include:

• Expanding State House District 11, which covers Kihei, Wailea and Makena, to encompass North Kihei as well.

• Removing the Kahului Airport and Spreckelsville from House District 12, which covers Upcountry, and adding these areas to House District 13, which currently includes East Maui, Lanai and Molokai.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.