The Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission has released its first congressional staff plan.
The latest proposal for Colorado’s congressional redistricting map from the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission staff released Friday evening puts Rep. Lauren Boebert in the 2nd Congressional District, and Fort Collins in the 4th Congressional District with much of rural Colorado.
The plan for Colorado redistricting can be viewed or downloaded at https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/staff-congressional-1
The congressional staff plan was prepared using 2020 Census Data, public comments and input from the congressional commission. The plan was presented to the commission yesterday, September 6 at 6:00pm with a press conference immediately following the meeting.
The congressional commission must approve the final plan by September 28. The first state senate and state house plans will be posted on September 13 and presented to the legislative commission on September 14.
As stated in the Colorado Constitution, the new congressional districts must:
- Have equal population, justifying each variance, no matter how small, as required by the U.S. Constitution;
- Be composed of contiguous geographic areas;
- Comply with the federal “Voting Rights Act of 1965,” as amended;
- Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns;
- Be as compact as is reasonably possible; and
- Thereafter, maximize the number of politically competitive districts.
Districts cannot be drawn for the purpose of:
- Protecting incumbents or declared candidates of the U.S. House of Representatives or any political party; or
- Denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person’s race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group’s electoral influence.
The Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission will hold virtual public hearings September 7-10. Individuals must sign up in advance to testify. These hearings will be the final opportunity for members of the public to speak to the redistricting commissions.
In order to maximize the opportunity to hear public testimony despite the condensed schedule, and due to growing concerns about COVID-19, the commissioners will not travel but will instead hold hearings virtually in each district over the course of four days. While the hearings are virtual, there will be limited opportunities to come to a staffed site for help testifying remotely. The staffed site location details will be emailed to anyone who registers to speak at that location.
Written public comments will remain open and available through the public hearing process and the consideration of final maps.
After the hearings on the congressional staff maps conclude, the commission can approve a final plan and submit it to the Supreme Court at any time up until September 28.
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