A dozen maps — that’s the fruit of the labor of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission that spent months crisscrossing the state to receive public input in an attempt to create political boundaries that represent like-minded communities rather than the interests of incumbent politicians.
Whether any of those maps becomes law remains to be seen.
The independent commission is a compromise resulting from a voter-initiated effort to avoid partisan gerrymandering in the state. It recommends maps to the Legislature, but, ultimately, elected officials are empowered to select political boundaries as they see fit.
The commission is scheduled to present its maps — three possibilities each for the Utah Senate, House and State Board of Education districts, as well as for the U.S. Congress — to the Legislative Redistricting Committee on Monday.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Utah State Capitol. Officials expect there will be an opportunity for members of the public to comment on the proposed maps.
The last time political maps were redrawn was following the 2010 U.S. Census, when Summit County was split into three Utah House districts and two Senate districts. Democrats claim those boundaries dilute the voice of their voters, while Republicans say it leads to a diversity of opinions being heard.
One thing isn’t debatable: No person who represents Summit County on the state level lives in Summit County.
Michael Smith, the chair of the Summit County Republican Party, said members of the group’s leadership have submitted maps to state officials that resemble the current boundaries.
“We’re very comfortable about the way the situation sits right now,” he said. “We’ve had numerous meetings with legislators even though (the county is) sliced up like a piece of chocolate pie.”
Katy Owens, the chair of the Summit County Democratic Party, said it might make sense to split the county into two Utah House districts, but three is too many.
“House District 53 has everywhere from Rich County to the Colorado border,” Owens said of the district that covers much of eastern Summit County as well as a portion of the Snyderville Basin. “Our Park City voice is very much diluted in that case.”
Summit County reliably votes for Democratic candidates, drawing on overwhelming support from the population centers in the Snyderville Basin and Park City. The East Side, however, is more politically conservative.
Of the five representatives the county has at the Statehouse, four are Republicans, with the lone Democrat being Rep. Brian King, of Salt Lake City, whose district stretches to include the Pinebrook and Summit Park neighborhoods.
Park City and the majority of the Snyderville Basin are in much larger, rural districts that have Republican representatives.
The maps for Utah House districts released by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission vary in how they divide the county, with one splitting it into three districts once again, another into two and a third keeping it largely intact.
Owens said she would support a map that keeps the greater Park City area united in one House district while the East Side of the county is included with other rural areas.
Smith said he would reserve judgment until the final maps are presented. He added that he supported the mission of the independent commission.
Owens said it was important the Legislature adopt at least one of the maps produced by the commission, saying the work should be respected.
“I think these maps are more fair and balanced than maps drawn by the Legislature,” she said. “Not just symbolically, I think they result in fairer maps. If you let incumbents in the Legislature draw the maps as you see fit, then you have other political considerations. They want to see their districts remain intact so they can win again.”
Katie Wright leads Better Boundaries, the organization that pushed for the independent commission to be created. She said she was impressed by the hard work, diligence and transparency the commission demonstrated.
“I would be incredibly disappointed (if none of the maps were adopted),” she said. “I think that in a representative democracy, it’s really critical that districts are drawn putting communities and people first so they have the opportunity to elect someone who understands their concerns.”
The commission’s work was scrutinized recently, especially the maps for U.S. congressional districts, after the surprise retirement from the independent commission of former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican who represented Summit County in Congress for nearly two decades.
Bishop reportedly took issue with the maps not including both rural and urban areas in each congressional district. The three maps forwarded by the independent commission create a Salt Lake City-based district. Utah’s congressional delegation is entirely Republican, and the commission’s maps each create a district that has a roughly 55% to 45% Democratic advantage, according to an analysis from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
Summit County’s population centers are included in the Salt Lake district in two of the proposed maps, while in another it is included with virtually the entire eastern and southern half of the state in a very rural district.
The Princeton analysis gives each of the proposed congressional districts an “A” rating on a partisan fairness scale.