State Supreme Court to Draw Redistricting Lines after Commission Misses Deadline
“Our goal remains the same: draw fair maps for Communities of Color, while engaging the community in the process,” Andrew Hong, co-lead of RJW said in a statement on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
While People of Color make up about 35% of the State’s population, only one of the State’s 49 legislative districts — the 37th, which includes much of southeast Seattle, from the Central Area to Renton — currently has an eligible voting population that’s majority People of Color. It’s a similar story among U.S. House districts in the state: Only voters in the 9th District, which overlies much of South Seattle as well as southern Bellevue and all of Mercer Island, are majority People of Color.
…Later Tuesday, the commission went ahead and published its proposed boundaries for the state’s 10 U.S. House districts and 49 state legislative districts, although the State Supreme Court has no obligation to follow them. The maps generally do not reflect proposed changes from RJW.
Among other changes, the coalition had proposed a handful of updates to legislative and congressional districts in the South End. The group’s plan for the 9th Congressional District, which stretches from Tacoma to Bellevue, would cut Bellevue and Mercer Island out of the district and instead add parts of Aurburn, Burien, and White Center.
Advocates also want to consolidate Communities of Color in a half-dozen state legislative districts in south King County — 11, 30, 33, 34, 37, and 47. The changes would mean four of those legislative districts would have adult populations that were majority People of Color. In three, People of Color would also make up a majority of eligible voters.
…The epicenter for RJW’s efforts is in the Yakima Valley, where electoral districts have historically disadvantaged the area’s large Latino/a and Indigenous populations. The group’s proposal would establish a majority-Latino/a district and combine areas of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation.
