El Paso County officials finalize redistricting process Tuesday; vote unanimous
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The five-member Board of Commissioners ended a five-month process Tuesday afternoon to redraw their district boundaries as required to reflect changes from the 2020 Census.
In April, the Board -- along with the office of county Clerk & Recorder Steve Schleiker -- formed the Redistricting Commission to oversee the process.
The redrawing of districts was formerly managed solely by the Clerk & Recorder's office, but a state law passed several years ago gave county boards the option of being in charge of the process. with or without the help of third parties or citizen advisors.
During public comment before the April 18 vote to form the Redistricting Commission, several citizens expressed a desire to be part of the process and said that it was improper for the Board to take a leading role in redrawing maps to determine who will vote for them in future elections.
However, the Board dismissed those concerns and said that it could conduct the process fairly, properly and without any conflict of interest.
Eleven public meeting have been held, at the Board chambers in Centennial Hall and in a variety of other locations.
On Tuesday, Schleiker made a final presentation that included three options for redistricting maps that were chosen last week; after a brief public comment period, the Board voted unanimously for Map 6, Version 2 (above).
Schleiker said that completing most of the process by now gave the Commission plenty of time if was unable to reach a final decision Tuesday; the deadline for agreeing on a final map is Sept. 30.
Commissioner Stan VanderWerf said that it was impossible to grant every redistricting request from citizens, and that the process was guided by legal requirements, personal ethics and the area's growth.
"I (had) these four items: Keeping the southeast whole, keeping Fountain and Fort Carson whole, keeping Patty Jewett whole, and keeping Monument whole -- and I believe that we will achieve those, and all those came from citizen comments," he explained.
The southeast refers to the effort to avoid splitting the 30 precincts in southeast Colorado Springs -- placing them in the same district for the first time.
Yet some citizens believe that it was improper for commissioners to re-draw their own districts, and are dissatisfied with how 31 maps were considered before the final choice.
"The maps that we have here were maps that were originated by commissioners on the committee," said Amy Paschal. "They were not maps that were originated by any of the citizens, or the groups that worked together to put maps together. All of those maps were dropped out of consideration and I believe that's really unfortunate."
Katherine Czukas was one of the most outspoken opponents.
"I'd like it to be known that we ended up in a bad place," she said. "I hope everyone realizes that having politicians on the redistricting commission is a bad idea. They just mess it up for the residents."
Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez said that although he will lose some constituents in the change, he's going along with it because "it's the right thing to do."
Schleiker said that El Paso County and Arapahoe County are the only two in Colorado complying with the new law because they're the only counties who have five commissioners.
"I'd also like to get the sponsor of that bill to amend it," he explained. "Because by law, I could release information about proposed maps to the public only an hour before each hearing. That didn't give citizens enough time to process everything."
For more information, visit: https://www.elpasoco.com/redistricting/.
