Redistricting Commission fails to pass maps by Nov. 15th deadline

For the first time in its 30-year history, the Washington State Redistricting Commission failed to pass new state maps on the November 15 deadline, despite having claimed to have done so just before midnight. The Washington State Supreme Court now has jurisdiction to adopt a redistricting plan.

This followed a public meeting on the night of the 15th that lacked transparency and was full of confusion. Though billed as a public meeting, the commissioners and their staff met privately for the vast majority of the 7PM-midnight meeting, only appearing every half hour to provide vague updates. In the final minutes before the midnight deadline, the commissioners publicly voted on legislative and congressional maps, and stated that they had unanimously passed them: but following today’s statements, it appears that this was not true.

Redistricting Justice for Washington and other organizations of color around the state are prepared to take legal action to ensure that the new maps are in compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA). This is particularly important for districts in Yakima, where a recent legal analysis found that the VRA requires a legislative district that is majority Latino by citizen voting age population. Republican commissioners Graves and Fain have tried to negate this analysis. While the commissioners have not yet released details on why they were unable to reach a decision on Monday night, it is likely that the Yakima legislative districts were part of the gridlock.

Community leaders and redistricting experts released the following statements:

Joseph Lachman, Policy Analyst, Asian Counseling & Referral Services:

“Over the past several months members of communities of interest have shown up consistently to engage with the redistricting process to ensure that communities of color have the resources and political power they deserve in this process. However we have not felt that our communities’ needs have been listened to or met. We are deeply disappointed in the commissioners inability to reach an agreement on maps by the constitutional deadline last night and the lack of transparency and meaningful public engagement throughout the commission’s process.”

NiRae Petty, Advocacy Organizer, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle:

“After spending months advocating at multiple public comment meetings, it’s quite upsetting that not only did the Commission propose maps that were inequitable by excluding prominent communities of color from the 9th CD, they also were not able to fulfill their duty of delivering maps by the deadline. Leaving the districting task to the Supreme Court defeats the purpose of having a local Districting Commission to ensure that the process is more personal to the residents who live in these Districts.”

Dulce Gutiérrez, Yakima City Councilwoman, Washington State Labor Council

“The Redistricting Commission not only failed to meet the statutory deadline, but it also declined to interact with the public during public meetings, limited accessibility in critical moments, and grossly disregarded transparency expectations. The State Supreme Court has a mandate from our communities to do better. They must draw districts, particularly in Yakima, that respect the sovereignty of the Yakama Nation and create majority-minority districts that enable communities of color to elect the candidates of their choice.”

David Morales, Yakima attorney:

“We look forward to taking our community’s fight to the Supreme Court.”

 Andrew Hong, Co-Lead, Redistricting Justice for Washington:

“We are disappointed with the lack of transparency in the last stages of the Commission’s process. We hope the State Supreme Court will actively engage in community outreach and proceed with more transparency than the Commission. Our goal remains the same: draw fair maps for communities of color, while engaging communities in the process.”

Kamau Chege, Executive Director, Washington Community Alliance

“We are extremely proud of the powerful community organizing of the last year: our communities showed up to the Redistricting Commission meetings and made their voices heard loud and clear. The Commission’s lack of accountability and transparency in the process was an abysmal disservice to everyone in our state. We plan to fight to ensure that the voting rights of our communities are upheld by the Supreme Court.”

Lennon Bronsema, Chief Campaigns Officer, Washington Conservation Voters

“Redistricting Justice for Washington left a historic imprint on this year's redistricting process. The amount of comments and the communities we elevated shifted the conversation about what a fair map is. Compared to ten years ago, public input was significant and with multiple languages. We also elevated tribal consultation to be central to the conversation. While we are incredibly disappointed the commission could not reach consensus we are proud of the conversation we started.”