Finally citizens of Oregon have received some great news regarding the future of their representation in the Oregon Legislature and in Washington DC.

Once Every 10 years voter representation in both the State Legislature and in Washington DC is revisited. Lines are redrawn based on population changes obtained by the US census. The 2020 census appears to point to significant growth in Oregon’s population. Growth large enough to warrant adding an additional Congressional seat to Oregon’s representation in Washington DC. The process, however, has been in limbo from the very beginning due to the delay in census data availability.

The Oregon Supreme Court issued a ruling that granted the bipartisan legislative request to extend the timeline to finish the redistricting process. They will issue a writ of mandamus allowing the Legislature to have the first chance to come up with a redistricting plan. The revised deadlines would require an emergency special session and would give the Legislature until September 27 to enact a redistricting plan, ensuring it becomes effective by February 1, 2022.

The opinion, issued by Chief Justice Walters, will keep the process from being transferred to Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. Secretary of State Shemia Fagan opposed the Legislature retaining control of the process. However, the Oregon Supreme Court rejected her attempt to block their control, calling her legal arguments flawed.

Last year The Oregon League of Women Voters began an initiative petition aimed at ending political gerrymandering in Oregon. They sought to ask the voters to approve the creation of an independent citizens' redistricting commission for reapportioning Oregon's state legislative districts. Commissioners would have been selected by county officials. 83 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Independents, and 60 percent of Republicans support independent redistricting, according to data shared by Norman Turrill, Chair of the People Not Politicians, during a recent House Special Committee on Redistricting hearing.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The House Republicans agree and continue to call for the Legislature to follow Washington and California by establishing its own independent redistricting commission. “Oregon needs to commit to a nonpartisan and transparent redistricting process,” said House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (HD39-Canby.) “Shockingly, we are the only state on the west coast that does not currently have an independent redistricting commission. In fact, we’re behind 26 other states in the country that have or are moving to an independent system this year. Oregonians deserve better, and they overwhelmingly support independent redistricting” she concluded in a press release.

What could have happened is that the redistricting task could have fallen to the Secretary of State, where the job gets done behind closed doors, without transparency. We've seen this process before, and seen it's results.


--Terese Humboldt

Post Date: 2021-04-11 10:16:07

Last Update: 2021-04-09 10:32:20