Redistricting Proposals Could Change 35th LD - Public Asked to Comment

"The U.S. Constitution requires that all states evaluate electoral district boundaries every ten years following the U.S. Census. In 1983, Washington voters established the Washington State Redistricting Commission to ensure district boundaries are redrawn through a fair and bipartisan process. The Redistricting Commission includes two Democrats and two Republicans as voting members and a non-voting, nonpartisan chair."
     - from the web site of the Washington State Redistricting Commission

The commissioners' draft redistricting proposals are now posted online. Also online are links you may use to comment on these proposals. Public input to the drafts will wrap up with a meeting in Olympia on October 11. The meeting will be webcast on TVW and broadcast on TV. Public comments will be taken during the meeting by phoning in or joining the interactive webcast.

After the meeting on October 11, the Redistricting Commissioners will meet as often as needed to hammer out a final plan for congressional and legislative districts. Their meetings will be open to the public and announced at least 24 hours in advance. The Commissioners have set a goal of November 1st to agree on a final plan, providing time to correct minor errors before the Constitutional deadline for submitting the plans to the Legislature on January 1, 2012.

What are some of the preliminary reviews of the effects of the redistricting on the counties within the 35th Legislative District? From the standpoint of the area's Congressional Districts, the Kitsap Sun ran an article, "Kitsap could become a congressional 'big dog' under redistricting plan" in which author Steven Gardner observed that all proposals would place Kitsap County entirely within the 6th Congressional District, currently represented by Democrat Norm Dicks.

As far as changes to the Legislative District are concerned, Redistricting Commissioner Slade Gorton's proposal to move Silverdale into the 35th LD "would make the Mason County-dominated 35th more conservative."

On the other hand, Democrats on the Redistricting Commission proposed moving parts of Key Peninsula into the 35th.

Proposals which would result in changes to the Legislative District could have an impact on Representative Kathy Haigh's campaign for reelection and in the election to replace retiring Representative Fred Finn.

The majority of the proposals also remove from the 35th LD the sliver of western Thurston County presently within the District.

Denny Heck, who in 2010 lost to Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd Congressional District, is said in the Olympian to have "put out a statement that said the final map looked nothing like the preliminary maps of 1991, the last time the state added a district." For this reason, it's an especially good time for interested voters to review the redistricting proposals and to make their comments known to Redistricting Commissioners.

Click here to review the proposals and to make comments to each of the four voting members on the Redistricting Commission.