Redistricting key to keeping democracy healthy

The current 32nd Legislative District needs to gain population

The Redistricting Commission has only the rest of 2011 to set the new lines for the 10 congressional and 49 legislative districts. All the districts will need to gain or lose population to meet the legal redistricting requirements.

From the Washington State Redistricting Commission

Like everything else in life, democracy needs an occasional checkup to make sure it is working the way we need it to. One of the key parts of healthy democracy is getting a sprucing up right now, and it involves you.

Current 1st Congressional District.  The red line is the King - Sno County boundary

2011 7th Congressional District.  Shoreline and LFP are at the very top.

The health check is called “redistricting,” it happens nationwide, and it starts with taking a look at how the population has changed over time. We use the U.S. Census, which happens just once every 10 years, to measure this change. Next comes the critical part. The U.S. Constitution requires that each state must go through redistricting, a process of readjusting the boundaries of legislative and congressional voting districts to make sure everyone is equally represented in government.

In Washington State, redistricting is up to the legislatively appointed Redistricting Commission. The commission includes two Democrats and two Republicans as voting members plus one non-voting, non-partisan chair. The Democrats appointed Tim Ceis, Seattle; and Dean Foster, Olympia. The Republicans appointed U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, Bellevue; and Tom Huff, Gig Harbor. Lura Powell, from Richland, serves as the Commission chair.

In the first phase of redistricting, which just ended, the commissioners gathered information from the public about their concerns, and what is important to them in their communities. We held 18 public forums in cities around Washington to hear people’s views on the where the new boundaries should go. Maybe you were able to attend. If not, you can still watch the forums—just go to the Commission’s website and click on the “Get Involved’ tab.

Now the Commissioners are developing their own redistricting plans and talking together about the best single plan for the whole state. They will show the public their individual draft plans on September 13.

This marks the beginning of a month-long opportunity for public comment. We’ll post the draft plans on our website. Please take a look and send us your thoughts. 

We plan to wrap up the month of public comment with a hearing on October 11, to give people a chance to speak in person to the commissioners. The commissioners hope to have a final plan out in early November. Check our website for more information and to give us your comments about the draft plans. If you have questions—or just want to learn more about redistricting—you can call us at 360-786-0770.