With its deadline for submitting new congressional and legislative district maps fast approaching, Washington’s four Redistricting Commissioners announced at a short, ten-minute meeting today that they are making significant progress in drawing up new maps, and expect to have preliminary proposals to make public tomorrow.
The four commissioners — Slade Gorton, Tim Ceis, Tom Huff, and Dean Foster — are each working with a commissioner from the other party on the new maps.
Gorton and Ceis have been drawing up a proposal for the congressional districts, while Foster and Huff have been drawing up a proposal for the legislative districts.
Presumably, Foster and Huff’s proposal will concern legislative district boundaries in eastern Washington. (On December 16th, the Commission released draft legislative maps for western Washington. Ceis and Gordon’s proposal covered Puget Sound and the Cascade foothills, while Foster and Huff’s proposal dealt with southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula).
Ceis and Gordon’s congressional district proposal, however, will be the first such draft released by the commission. It won’t necessarily be the final proposal, but it’ll be credible grist for speculation, unlike the individual maps the four commissioners each came up with back in the autumn.
Its unveiling is expected to be the highlight of tomorrow’s meeting, with will convene at 11 AM in at the John A. Cherberg Building in Hearing Room 4. (This is the state Senate’s office building; it is located across from the Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus, which is adjacent to South Capitol Way).
Redistricting Commission staff say that the public is welcome to attend in person or watch and give comment during the interactive webcast on their “Get Involved” page. TVW will also be streaming the meeting live on its website.