Every ten years the US Constitution requires that a census be taken, and based on the data produced by that effort, the Oregon Constitution requires that all US Congressional districts, State Senate Districts and State Representative Districts be redrawn to reflect changes in population and ensure that each district represent roughly the same amount of people.

The district lines are drawn by the legislature, unless they can't agree by July 1 and then it goes to the Secretary of State, which it has often done in the past few decades, due to partisan disagreements within the legislature. The problem this year is that the federal census was delayed due to COVID-19 and the work might not get done by July 1, but since this is not the fault of the Legislature, lawsuits are teeing up to argue this.

Early signs are that Oregon will gain a sixth Congressional district, which will require some rethinking of all the districts. Will the coast get it's own unified Congressional district? It currently is split among three. Will Central Oregon and the growing Bend region get its own district? It's currently a part of the sprawling 2nd Congressional District that covers sparsely populated Eastern Oregon.

The Senate Committee on Redistricting, chaired by Senator Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland) and the House Committee on Redistricting, chaired by Representative Andrea Salinas (D-Lake Oswego) will each have public hearings in which the public is invited to testify.



These are the various virtual public hearings for different districts in the state. You can use the buttons to sign up to testify during these hearings. The map above shows the current Congressional Districts.

Some people are concerned that despite the fact that 35.5% of registered voters on Oregon are registered to vote Democrat -- about one-third of registered voters -- the decisions about what the districts will look like will be made exclusively by a Democrat-led House, a Democrat-led Senate, a Democrat Governor and a Democrat Secretary of State.

There's also concern that since the Tri-County metropolitan area is dominated by Democrats, that lines will be drawn in rural communities by politicians who have no connection to those areas.

According to some, part of the problem in Oregon is that you have politicians eating their own dog food -- i.e. they are drawing the very districts in which they will run and which they hope to continue to represent. Many other states have a redistricting process that involves decision makers who don't have a direct stake in the outcome. They've pointed out that in a democratic republic, voters should pick their politicians -- politicians shouldn't pick their voters.

Virtual Hearings for Individuals Residing in:	Hearing Dates:	Hearing Times (click on the time to sign up to testify)
District 1 (Clatsop, Columbia, part of Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties)	Tuesday, March 9	5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
	Saturday, March 20	9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
District 2 (Baker, Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, part of Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco and Wheeler counties)	Wednesday, March 10	5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
	Saturday, March 20	1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
District 3 (Part of Clackamas and part of Multnomah counties)	Thursday, March 11	5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
	Saturday, April 10	9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
District 4 (Part of Benton, Coos, Curry, Douglas, part of Josephine, Lane and Linn counties)	Tuesday, March 16	5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
	Saturday, April 10	12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
District 5 (Part of Benton, part of Clackamas, Lincoln, Marion, part of Multnomah, Polk and Tillamook counties)	Thursday, March 18	5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
	Saturday, April 10	3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-02-23 19:27:35

Last Update: 2021-02-24 08:13:44