Utah redistricting commission member defends efforts: ‘They’re all good maps’
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- One of three proposed redistricting proposals for Utah’s four U.S. House districts put forward by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission, the “public submission” proposal. The UIRC is to formally present its proposed redistricting maps to Utah lawmakers on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021.
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- One of three proposed redistricting proposals for Utah’s four U.S. House districts put forward by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission, the “purple” proposal. The UIRC is to formally present its proposed redistricting maps to Utah lawmakers on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021.
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- One of three proposed redistricting proposals for Utah’s four U.S. House districts put forward by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission, the “orange” proposal. The UIRC is to formally present its proposed redistricting maps to Utah lawmakers on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021.
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- The current boundaries of the four U.S. House Districts in Utah, crafted after the 2010 national head county.
The U.S. House and Utah House districts across Weber County and Northern Utah will undoubtedly be carved up differently when the redistricting process is complete, probably by year’s end.
Already, though, a glimpse of what could be coming is emerging. The Utah Independent Redistricting Commission this week unveiled the proposals its members drew up, providing various visions of how political boundaries should be redrawn to reflect population shifts in Utah between 2010 and 2020 based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau head count.
When Rob Bishop, the former U.S. representative for Northern Utah, stepped down on Monday as one of seven UIRC commissioners, Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, for one, pointedly criticized the body. Bishop, a Republican from Brigham City, had expressed concern that rural Utah was getting short shrift in the proposed maps coming together. Wilson piled on, saying the former U.S. lawmaker’s decision showed that lawmakers were best suited to redraw political boundaries.
The UIRC, formed just this year, is an advisory body and the Utah Legislative Redistricting Committee, made up of Utah House and Senate members, is actually tasked with coming up with a formal redistricting proposal. The legislative group will start meeting on Monday to come up with an official proposal, taking the UIRC proposals into consideration.
Rex Facer, though, one of the six remaining UIRC commissioners, countered Bishop’s criticism. Rural Utahns offered plenty of feedback to the commission, which traveled around the state to get input. Significantly, he said the UIRC maps pass muster from outside experts, like the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
“They’re all good maps,” Facer said. He was saddened Bishop stepped down, but says the bipartisan commission, overall, worked well together. The 12 maps the body unveiled on Monday received unanimous backing from the six commissioners remaining after Bishop resigned.
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a nonpartisan group associated with Princeton University in New Jersey that has been analyzing redistricting proposals around the country, gave eight of the UIRC maps grades of A on an A-F scale. One of them received a B.
The New Jersey group analyzed the three redistricting proposals put forward by the UIRC for Utah’s four U.S. House districts, the three proposals for redrawing the boundaries of the 75 Utah House districts and the three proposals for redrawing the boundaries of the 29 Utah Senate districts. It didn’t review the UIRC’s three proposed maps redrawing the Utah State Board of Education districts.
Katie Wright, executive director of Better Boundaries, the group that promoted Proposition 4, the 2018 statewide referendum question that led to creation of the UIRC, noted that the UIRC received 2,000 comments over the summer and fall as the body sought public feedback. Proposition 4 was spearheaded by a contingent worried about gerrymandering of districts in Utah.
“Utahn’s have been incredibly engaged and it’s impressive to see,” she said.
State lawmakers may follow or dismiss the UIRC proposals as they see fit as they now pull together formal proposals. But here are a few takeaways from the maps put forward by the commission, to be formally presented to state lawmakers on Monday:
U.S. House maps: The three proposed maps for Utah’s four U.S. House districts each create three districts that lean Republican and one that leans Democratic, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
Two of the three maps, the “orange” and “purple” maps, create two smaller districts clustered around the Salt Lake City urban area and two more expansive districts encompassing the rest of the state. The third map creates four relatively expansive districts that, in Facer’s view, contain a relatively even mix of rural and urban areas.
Utah House maps: The three proposed Utah House maps carve Weber County up differently, but appear to divvy Ogden into fewer districts. The existing Utah House boundaries have portions of Ogden split into six Utah House Districts.
All three maps create a relatively large district encompassing eastern Weber County — the Wasatch Back and points further east — and points to the north and south.
According to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, the “green” and “purple” Utah House maps each create a Democratic-leaning district in the Ogden area.
Utah Senate maps: The three versions of the Utah Senate boundary maps all show the proposed districts in the Weber County area as leaning Republican, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering project.
State lawmakers could come up with a formal redistricting proposal in early November, according to Facer. The final plan must be approved by Gov. Spencer Cox.