Voters to decide on overhaul of political redistricting

DENVER — Colorado voters soon will determine whether the state overhauls how it redraws districts for congressional and legislative seats.

Amendments Y and Z — to be considered by voters Nov. 6 —  seek to end partisan wrangling over the boundaries of political districts. Amendment Y would alter how congressional district boundaries are drawn, while Amendment Z would alter the drawing of boundaries for state districts. Each amendment requires 55 percent voter approval for passage.

“The existing process has notable problems,” said Curtis Hubbard, a spokesman for Fair Maps Colorado, which is promoting the measures. “No. 1, it’s controlled by partisans and lobbyists. Whichever party is in control tends to draw maps that favor their political interests.”

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Colorado’s congressional districts have morphed dramatically in recent decades, with both political parties pushing through gerrymandered boundaries that sought to maximize their party’s advantages.

District boundaries are redrawn after every federal census, and political parties in power have thought nothing of creating odd district boundaries that seek to bring in the maximum number of people from their parties — and to minimize that of their opponents.

Colorado’s population growth has seen the number of congressional districts increase from five in 1982 to six a decade later and seven as of 2003. That number is expected to jump again, with the state expected to gain at least one more congressional seat after the 2020 census.

Gerrymandered districts have prompted lawsuits around the country, with Colorado’s district boundaries most recently challenged in court after the 2010 census, and with all but one Colorado redistricting map drawn by a judge in the past 40 years.

The broken process means that few of the state’s congressional or legislative districts could be deemed competitive, Hubbard said.

Enter Amendments Y and Z, which would take congressional and legislative redistricting out of the hands of partisan legislators and place it in the hands of a independent panels comprised of five Democrats, five Republicans and five unaffiliated voters. Gerrymandering would be prohibited, and the process conducted in public. District maps would require approval by at least eight panel members, including at least two unaffiliated members.

If commissioners can’t agree on a map, a default map created by non-partisan staff would become enacted.

“We tried to create checks and balances throughout the process to make sure that the system could not be gamed by one side or the other,” Hubbard said.

In addition to creating independent commissions, enforcing a public process and prohibiting gerrymandering, the amendments would limit the roles of politicians and lobbyists while maximizing the number of competitive districts, Hubbard said.

He said the measures would respect political subdivisions such as towns, cities, counties, etc., even as they allow for aligning “communities of interest,” such as shared public-policy concerns.

Thus far, the amendments have secured bipartisan support, with Gov. John Hickenlooper joined by all living former governors from both political parties, and with support from such disparate organizations as the Independence Institute, the ACLU and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Hubbard said that opposition has been limited and includes Douglas Bruce, author of the TABOR amendment that limits state and local taxation and spending.

He said the amendments would put Colorado in the forefront of redistricting reform efforts.

“They will make Colorado a national model for fair and transparent redistricting,” he said.