By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – One of the most important outcomes of the 2020 national census is the process of redistricting based on population changes, and the Clallam County Districting Commission is in the middle of that effort right now.
The Commission is hosting two public hearings to get citizen input on redistricting scenarios as proposed by Districting Masters Gene Unger and Don Corson, who have been crunching the data and studying the map for months.
We spoke with Unger on Tuesday and were surprised to learn that, despite an increase in population of about 5,000 people, it turns out that the Commission doesn’t have to move the district borders at all if they choose not to.
“That is true. But the charter says the redistricting commission has to go through the process. So they have to receive the counts and they have to take that to the public hearings so that the public has an opportunity to give them input as to where they think they should go.”
The goal is to have each voting district contain as close to an equal number of voters as possible. The charter says they must be within 5% of one another. Unger says two of the districts are now within 4.8%, so the lines don’t necessarily have to be moved, but it’s probably not ideal going into the next decade. He says 10 years ago they had them to within 2%, which he thinks would be a much better scenario.
We asked Unger why it’s important for the public to be a part of the process.
“Well, they get to see where the boundaries are and where they live. One of the proposals might move them from one commissioner district to another. Do they like that? Do they think their neighbors like being in the district they are? Or would they like to move to the other district? I don’t know. That’s obviously part of what can happen.”
The first public hearing will be held next Tuesday, November 16 at 6 p.m. via Zoom from the Commissioners Meeting Room in Port Angeles.
The second and final hearing be Thursday, November 18 at 6 p.m., also via Zoom meeting.
To view the meeting live-streamed click here, and to participate in the Zoom meeting click here.
The ID you’ll need to join the meeting is 875 561 7844, and the pass code is 12345.