Colorado law places a group of citizens, rather than elected officials, in charge of creating the state’s new congressional district maps following the decennial census. Twelve selected commissioners met virtually in 2021 to generate these maps.
Problems and Purpose:
Multiple U.S. states have created citizen-led commissions for political redistricting in order to minimize political gerrymandering. These commissions exist to ensure a fair map-making process occurs rather than a strategic partisan process. By giving a politically balanced group of citizens control over the redistricting process, map outcomes can emerge that take citizen concerns into account and prove acceptable to a wider range of voters.
Background History and Context:
Colorado’s use of independent commissions for both the congressional and state legislative redistricting processes became state law as a result of two referendum votes, with Amendments Y and Z passing in Colorado during the November 2018 elections. Amendment Y created the congressional redistricting commission. Before voters approved Colorado Amendment Y, the Colorado General Assembly controlled the state’s Congressional redistricting process due to a section of the Colorado Constitution previously mandating this. Proponents of Amendment Y supported giving the power of redistricting to a politically balanced commission of citizens rather than elected politicians, arguing that Amendment Y would mitigate the influence of political parties in the map-making process [1].
Amendments Y and Z appeared on ballots statewide in 2018 after being proposed by the Colorado General Assembly, making these amendments legislatively referred constitutional amendments. The bill to refer Amendment Y to Colorado voters unanimously passed Colorado’s state senate and state house, enjoying bipartisan sponsorship. Colorado is now one of seven states in the U.S. with a non-politician independent commission for Congressional redistricting [2].
Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities:
The advocacy group Fair Maps Colorado supported the referendum in order to reduce redistricting partisanship and boost the level of transparency throughout the process [3]. State legislators in Colorado from both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party supported the creation of the commission. Following the referendum vote, the Colorado government established the Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission pursuant to the newly added Sections 44 through 44.6 of Article V of the Colorado Constitution [4]. Under Colorado law, the commission operates as a state funded public entity.
Participant Recruitment and Selection:
The Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission was designed to have four registered Republicans, four registered Democrats, and four politically unaffiliated members. The participant selection process started with an open application period for adult Coloradans who were registered to vote, voted in the prior two general elections (2016 and 2018), and had been affiliated with the same political party (or no party) for the past five years. It is unclear why the original authors of Amendment Y chose these exact criteria for commission participants. The application window was open from August 10, 2020 to November 10, 2020.
Applicants could not be candidates for federal office or state legislative office in the past five years, could not have been paid by Congressional candidates (or members) or state legislative candidates (or members) in the past three years, and could not have held other certain political jobs including being a professional registered lobbyist or a political party official [5]. These measures are intended to prevent undue partisan influence.
From a large pool of applicants, the state randomly selected 1050 to be candidates for the Congressional redistricting commission. Next, a select group of retired judges chose 150 qualified candidates to be the final pool of nominees. Finally, the group of retired judges randomly chose candidates from this pool to be on the Congressional redistricting commission. After this, a group of four legislative leaders from both parties were tasked with proposing an additional list of nominees, and they proposed 80 more nominees in total [6]. The group of retired judges then made final selections for this commission by March of 2021, ensuring 12 members were selected who achieved the equal 4-4-4 partisan breakdown.
In accordance with state law, commissioners did receive financial payments to compensate them for time spent on the redistricting process; the commissioners each received $200 for attendance at each commission meeting in addition to financial reimbursement for expenses that occurred while performing official commission responsibilities [7].
Methods and Tools Used:
The commission operated in a similar manner to a citizens’ jury [https://participedia.net/method/155] in terms of structure and process. Participedia defines a citizens’ jury as a “a small group of randomly selected citizens, representative of the demographics in the area, that come together to reach a collective decision or recommendation on a policy issue through informed deliberation.”. The commission was tasked with reaching a final decision on how the state’s Congressional districts would be drawn.
The commission meetings involved deliberation (https://participedia.net/method/560) among participants regarding redistricting Colorado and several potential map proposals. Commission meetings were held online and were also broadcast online for the public, and so involved online deliberation (https://participedia.net/method/4232). Online votes (https://participedia.net/method/4313) on commission matters likewise occurred. The commission additionally held several in-person public hearings (https://participedia.net/method/162) at different locations in the state and received public comments on map drafts.
The commission held several meetings to complete the map-drawing process. A simple majority rule was utilized to create commission rules and make procedural decisions. No professional facilitators guided the process, though nonpartisan staff served the commission in order to actually draw the district maps using mapping software.
The maps had to comply with all federal law regarding drawing Congressional districts. At any point in the process, a commissioner could direct the nonpartisan staff to draw an alternative map plan. A total of 8 out of the 12 commissioners, including at least 2 commissioners who were politically unaffiliated, had to agree on the final map.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation:
Regular meetings were held that included a public comment period. The commission allowed up to five citizen speakers per meeting who each had three minutes to comment. All people desiring to participate in the public comment period had to register in advance.
As previously stated, the commission utilized public hearings in order to garner citizen feedback and ideas (https://participedia.net/method/162). Additionally, Colorado residents could submit their own maps as well as public comments to the commission’s website: https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/congressional-redistricting. The commission used census data and mapping software to create the district maps, which were drawn at the direction of the commissioners by nonpartisan staff members who served the commission.
The first meeting was held on March 22, 2021. Based on public meeting records, the commissioners discussed issues relevant to redistricting including identifying communities of interest, potential competitiveness of districts, the public comments received, if and how to split counties, and potential legal issues [8]. Several maps were considered throughout the process that favored either Republicans or Democrats, but these maps did not obtain the necessary number of commissioner votes to pass. The final map that the commission agreed to in late September of 2021 (with an 11-1 vote) was “a Democratic amendment to a plan drawn by nonpartisan staff based on public feedback” according to local journalists; this approved map was voted on mere minutes prior to the commission’s final decision deadline [9].
Following the final map decision, one commissioner emphasized the transparency of the process, stating that “When you think of, like, smokey caucuses, those are gone…. We had…open meetings.” [10]. This highlights the highly public nature of the commission’s redistricting process.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects:
This citizens’ commission process was directly responsible for determining the Congressional maps that Colorado will operate under presumably until the next decennial census. The Colorado Supreme Court approved the final Congressional map drawn by the commission on November 1, 2021. The final Congressional district map approved by the commission creates Congressional districts in Colorado that will likely result in 4 seats that will typically elect Democrats, 3 seats that will typically elect Republicans, and 1 seat that will typically be closely contested by the two parties (according to recent election results and analysis by local journalists) [11].
The process of allowing for extensive public feedback (including public comments) allowed the commissioners to consider a wide range of community interests during the process. The commissioners also deliberated among themselves regarding the strengths and weaknesses of different Congressional map proposals throughout the process. All considered, according to one close observer of political redistricting, the commission seemed to achieve its intended results by succeeding in preventing political gerrymandering, taking citizen concerns into account (via weighing public comments), following a fair decision-making process, and producing a final map that both promotes competitive elections and will likely prove acceptable to a wide range of Colorado citizens [12].
Analysis and Lessons Learned:
This recent case of citizen decision-making has not yet been formally evaluated by scholars. Some groups of Colorado citizens have already voiced disapproval of the commission’s final map, including the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy and Research Organization (CLLARO) which does not believe that the map provides enough collective representation for Latino communities in the state [13]. One close observer of political redistricting believes that Colorado’s Congressional redistricting commission was largely successful in achieving its ultimate aims of promoting political fairness and minimizing partisan influence, as it produced a politically balanced map through a deliberative commission process that took a wide range of citizen opinions into account [14].
The successes generated by the 2021 redistricting process can continue in the future if Colorado continues to utilize a citizen commission for the state’s congressional redistricting. One member of the commission appeared particularly proud of the redistricting process and the final map product in his concluding public comments, remarking triumphantly that “Together we have changed the course of congressional redistricting in Colorado and provided an example for the rest of the country” [15].
See Also:
Citizens’ Jury: https://participedia.net/method/155
References:
[1] Bianchi, C. (2018, October 15). Bye, bye, gerrymandering? Inside Amendments Y and Z. Westword. https://www.westword.com/news/inside-amendments-y-and-z-which-try-to-eliminate-gerrymandering-in-colorado-10885833
[2] Ballotpedia. (n.d.). Redistricting commissions. https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_commissions
[3] Colorado Public Radio Staff. (2018, November 7). Colorado Amendments Y & Z, independent panels for redistricting, have passed. Colorado Public Radio. https://www.cpr.org/2018/11/07/colorado-amendments-y-z-independent-panels-for-redistricting-have-passed/
[4] Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions. (n.d.). Redistricting laws. https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/redistricting-laws
[5] Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. https://redistricting.colorado.gov/faq
[6] Clark, M. (2021, March 1). Final six members of Colorado’s new congressional redistricting commission selected. Colorado Newsline. https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/final-six-members-of-colorados-new-congressional-redistricting-commission-selected/
[7] Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. https://redistricting.colorado.gov/faq
[8] Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions. (n.d.). Meeting Archive. https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/meeting-summaries
[9] Birkeland, B. (2021, September 29). Colorado’s final redistricting congressional map could give Democrats, GOP equal number of seats. Colorado Public Radio. https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/29/colorado-redistricting-congressional-final-map/
[10] Birkeland, B. (2021, September 29). Colorado’s final redistricting congressional map could give Democrats, GOP equal number of seats. Colorado Public Radio. https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/29/colorado-redistricting-congressional-final-map/
[11] Miller, B. (2021, September 29). Colorado congressional redistricting commission approves map to send to state Supreme Court. Denver 7 ABC: The Denver Channel. https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/colorado-congressional-redistricting-commission-approves-map-to-send-to-state-supreme-court
[12] Bixler, W. D. (2021, October 28). Colorado’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission. Unpublished manuscript.
[13] Birkeland, B. (2021, October 5). Colorado congressional redistricting: Latino advocates, others object to map at state supreme court. Coloradoan. courthttps://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/local/colorado/2021/10/05/colorado-congressional-redistricting-latino-advocates-others-object-map/6006798001/
[14] Bixler, W. D. (2021, October 28). Colorado’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission. Unpublished manuscript.
[15] Birkeland, B. (2021, September 29). Colorado’s final redistricting congressional map could give Democrats, GOP equal number of seats. Colorado Public Radio. https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/29/colorado-redistricting-congressional-final-map/
External Links:
Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission website: https://redistricting.colorado.gov/content/congressional-redistricting
Notes:
The first version of this case entry was written by Derek Bixler, a Master of Public Service candidate at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and then edited. The views expressed in the entry are those of the authors, editors, or cited sources, and are not necessarily those of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.