The task of drawing the county’s new council district boundaries will be left to the Clark County Council. On Monday, the county redistricting committee voted 3-2 to approve proposed map B2. However, the county charter requires a two-thirds majority vote, or four votes, for the committee to adopt either of the A2 or B2 proposed maps.
Even without the necessary votes for approval, the redistricting committee will send map B2 to the council for consideration.
As with prior votes by the committee, the final vote was divided along party lines. Republican members Juan Gamboa and Cemal Richards voted for map A2, and Democratic members Janet Landesberg and Morgan Holmgren voted for map B2. Committee Chair Greg Kimsey, the county auditor and a Republican, also voted for map B2.
One of the key sticking points was the boundary lines for District 3 and District 4.
Last month, voters approved expanding the county’s existing four geographic council districts to five, along with a tentative boundary map. But it placed Republican County Council members Karen Bowerman, Gary Medvigy and Eileen Quiring O’Brien in one district —District 4.
Map A2 alters the tentative boundary lines, leaving Bowerman in District 3 and Medvigy in District 4.
Moving the boundary lines to favor incumbent councilors did not sit well with some residents who submitted comments prior to and at the public hearing.
Battle Ground resident Jackie Lane said, “This attempt to disenfranchise voters living outside of District 4 is appalling … I can see why a majority of Clark County voters approved the five-district map, which ensures better representation and finally gives representation to those of us living in north county.”
The committee received 20 comments, with two in favor of map A2 and 18 in favor of map B2.
The nonpartisan League of Women Voters also supported map B2, saying it best “supported efforts to honor the will of voters, keep population numbers as close as possible, move as few people as possible … and creates reasonable district lines for all of the county’s population.”
Gamboa questioned some of the letters supporting map B2 sent prior to the public hearing.
“They made a decision before the public meeting? Did they know what was going to happen during the public meeting? There could have been some changes (made) to what they had seen in the past,” Gamboa said.
Authority questioned
What authority the county council has to draw the maps is also in question as neither the county charter nor state law addresses what happens if the local redistricting committee fails to reach agreement.
“Legal counsel stated there’s nothing in the charter that deals with this so state law would govern. But state law doesn’t really reference county charter redistricting committees,” Kimsey said Monday after the meeting.
State law requires each county to complete redistricting by Dec. 31 and sets criteria for redistricting. Among the criteria is dividing population among districts as evenly as possible, drawing districts to be geographically contiguous, and not using population data to favor or disfavor any racial group or political party. However, state law doesn’t define how a redistricting plan is adopted at the county level.
“It’s my understanding the county council begins where the redistricting committee began,” Kimsey said, adding the council may but isn’t required to adopt the map put forward by the committee.
The council could decide to adopt map B2, adopt map A2 favored by the Republican members of the committee, go back to the map passed by voters and amend it to incorporate changes from census data, or choose another route.
The council is unlikely to meet the Dec. 31 deadline. Any further changes or amendments to the map would require a public hearing. With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays nearly here, and county offices closed for several days during that time, there wouldn’t be enough time to provide public notice.
The delay could ultimately affect the county Elections Office.
“It pushes the timeline down for when the Elections Office and GIS (Geographic Information Services) can actually begin implementing the boundaries of a new plan,” Kimsey said.
While the delay wouldn’t affect the February special election, depending on how long the process takes Kimsey said it could impact other elections, such as the August primary, which has filing deadlines in May.
