League of Women Voters urges redistricting changes

Big changes could be coming to how Oregon redraws the maps each decade to form its legislative and congressional districts.

The League of Women Voters held a meeting Wednesday night in Bend to discuss how political districts are formed — the redistricting process, done after each Census to reflect roughly equal population.

For Oregon House and Senate districts, they say, as of now, the process is run by the state Legislature.

Norman Turill, president of the League of Women Voters of Oregon said that power should not belong solely to lawmakers, but that the people should have a voice on how districts are formed and where the lines are drawn.

That’s why the League of Women Voters believes a redistricting commission should be formed. with equal representation.

“The problem is that in the last 100 years, the Legislature has failed in some way to actually get the districting passed, since 1911 was the last time,” Turrill said. “So we think that there are probably better ways of doing it, and the way it’s done now, it favors the politicians over voters. And we’d like to have voters represented over politicians.”

The Census that is set to be taken in 2020 will have a great impact on how the districts will be formed.

Candalynn Johnson, the campaign coordinator with the League of Women Voters, said having lawmakers form congressional districts also can lead to gerrymandering or one party being able to control the process.

“There’s this bias that legislators have that they can’t get rid of,” Johnson said. “That’s just because it’s their job to know about their constituents and their voters. And so a multi-partisan .independent commission would be citizens. It would be people without that conflict of interest that would be making the decision of where lines get drawn.”

This commission would create the district maps, and Johnson said that would be the same way that California draws its maps.

In order for the commission to happen, an Oregon constitutional amendment would have to be passed.

Johnson said their goal is to get such an amendment passed before 2021, in time for the next redistricting process.

For more information on the move to reform redistricting in Oregon, click here.