Redistricting panel to meet in Moscow this week
Public invited to attend meetings Thursday at City Hall or watch via streaming
Idaho’s six-member Commission for Reapportionment will hold a series of public hearings in northern Idaho this week, including stops in Moscow and Lewiston.
The Moscow meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday evening, in the Moscow City Hall chambers.
The Lewiston meeting begins at 11 a.m. Friday, at Lewis-Clark State College’s Silverthorne Theater.
Both meetings will also be streamed live online, at idahoptv.org/shows/idahoinsession.
The commission is responsible for redrawing legislative and congressional district boundaries, using the 2020 census population data. The new districts will be in place for the next 10 years.
Given the various constitutional and statutory restrictions on how legislative districts can be formed, the commission has previously indicated that either Latah County, Nez Perce County or Idaho County will almost certainly have to be split between two or more legislative districts.
The purpose of this week’s hearings is to give people in the area an opportunity to offer their suggestions on where the lines should be drawn.
A couple of potential congressional and legislative district maps will also be available for review. However, commission members have made it clear these draft proposals are primarily intended to provide a starting point for the public discussions. It’s unlikely any of them would become the final proposal.
The bipartisan commission is comprised of three Republican appointees and three Democratic appointees. It takes a majority vote to approve any redistricting map.
The Republican commissioners include former Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis and former state Reps. Eric Redman and Tom Dailey.
The Democratic appointees include former state Sen. Dan Schmidt, of Moscow, former University of Idaho law professor Nels Mitchell and Amber Pence, special assistant to the Teton County Board of Commissioners.
Although the commission has until early December to approve the final redistricting maps, it’s hoping to complete the work by the middle of October.
Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.
