Article by Laura M. Milner
I was privileged and honored to have a delightful discussion with the Legislative District 13 delegation (Judy Warnick, Tom Dent, and Alex Ybarra) on 11.10.22 regarding concerns about the current redistricting process. My meeting take-away was that the delegation was content with the current process but would judge its merits by outcomes.
There were many outcomes including lawsuits. The Soto Palmer vs Hobbs lawsuit resulted in at least the following outcomes, if not more. A Yakima legislative district was judged to be discriminatory, forcing the maps to be redrawn. The now redrawn maps have affected 13 districts causing 5 legislators to be displaced from their district and over 489,000 residents moved into other districts before the November 2024 elections this fall. Indeed, Mr. Ybarra’s own district changed.
Washington State’s redistricting process resulted in these very unfortunate outcomes and will continue to produce confusion and controversy, unless we do something. Why?
- The state of Washington uses a “foxes guarding the hen house approach” allowing two Democrats and two Republicans appointed by party leadership to draw the legislative districts.
- The Redistricting Commission has just 10 short months to start up their own office, get public feedback, create district maps, negotiate final solutions and submit them. Drawing district lines in a truly transparent way so that voters can elect candidates of their choice is very hard. Start-ups with so little support and so little time to create a legislative district map for 8 million people, will make mistakes, miss deadlines, etc. And these legislative lines stand for 10 years; unless someone intervenes.
- Washington state is a bi-partisan gerrymander. Only 16-20% of state residents live in competitive districts. Quite simply, for up to 80% of residents, the party that will represent them is preordained. Given that the largest percentage of people in the state identify as “independent,” this is a travesty.
The League of Women Voters of Washington State is working to change the process. We take no position on the maps themselves but do oppose unrepresentative processes. The League advocates for a People First Commission with expanded membership. All members would be ordinary citizens who represent many points of views. The new commission would put people’s interests above partisan tradeoffs. Line drawing would include an open process with clearly defined mapping criteria ranked in importance. Citizen participation would exist at all levels and steps. This People First Commission would minimize partisan influences and be responsive to the expressed interests of communities. Other states like Arizona, Michigan, and California have taken back the power from the partisan insiders. We can too. It is a long process requiring a state constitutional amendment, so we need to begin now. Educate yourself on redistricting. Check out the website, https://www.lwvwa.org/redistricting/ and others. Then talk to your legislative representatives. Now that they have seen the outcomes, I hope and believe they will welcome conversations regarding a better process.
This article was co-published by the Ellensburg Daily Record newspaper on September 21, 2024. Laura M. Milner, a retired higher education administrator, is a current member of the League of Women Voters of Kittitas County and has been chair of the Voter Services Committee for both the Kittitas County LWV and La Crosse County LWV in Wisconsin.