Je co’s new district maps revealed

BY JO DAVIS JDAVIS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Je erson County Clerk and Recorder has unveiled the new district maps.

ey are the result of redistricting, a process that the county undergoes every decade to determine where the new boundary lines for each district are drawn. is year, County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez opened up the process to public input.

“Je co residents are the experts on their own communities,” Gonzalez said. “So, it was really important to engage community members in the map drawing process. ey helped us understand their priorities and we made signi cant changes as a result of their input.”

Traditionally, according to the county clerk’s redistricting presentation, drawing the district lines happens in meetings that are only open to county and state o cials. Gonzalez explained that in the state of Colorado, counties with ve commissioners must open their process to public input.

“Je co only has three commissioners, so that didn’t apply to us,” Gonzalez said. “So, we had mostly the old process, which was the clerk could draw the map in a back room. And then, it could be voted on at a meeting where the commissioners say, ‘OK, where do I live? Yeah, that looks good to me.’”

She wanted something much more transparent and something that included the people who live in the county.

Gonzalez and her team started with the original district line map. en, worked with Tufts University to create a mapping tool called Distrctr that allows county residents to create their own maps. e Clerk’s team then hosted a series of public meetings where Gonzalez explained the process, and how to use Distrctr. During those sessions, Gonzalez also took comments from everyone. e maps, comments and sugges- tions were used to create a second map that Gonzalez presented to the Je erson County Commissioners. On July 18, the commissioners drew up a third map that, according to the clerk’s o ce, “took the best parts of the rst two maps and combined those with additional priorities they and their constituents have.”

After more public comments, Map 3 was created. e commissioners then voted to con rm the map that was released on Aug. 8.

Gonzalez added that the maps were created without consideration of partisan politics.

“I purposefully didn’t look at the partisan lines in the various districts,” she said. “ at was just important to me.” e resulting map is thus the re ection of the county clerk, the county commissioners and the county residents.

She went on to explain that other concerns were more important, like urban/rural distinctions, wild reprone areas and other concerns from the public and the commissioners.

According to a statement from the county clerk’s o ce, 45 community members attended the two public meetings. e o ce received 15 public comments and more than a dozen draft maps (which you can nd on Distrctr). e clerk’s o ce statement shows that the redistricting message reached approximately 4,000 people on social media and about 13,000 people via email and individual outreach.

“Redistricting has a long history of being led by politicians, for politicians’ best interests, in closed meetings and back-room dealings,” Gonzalez said. “I’m so proud that Je co had the most transparent, most inclusive redistricting process in Colorado, and our map is better for it.” e new maps will be used to dene Je co’s commissioner districts starting this November through the next ten years.

For more information on redistricting, check out the Je co redistricting webpage.