Representative Heather Scott - District 1
 Click on photo above or this LINK to watch my video on redistricting.
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Greetings from North Idaho:
The buzz over the last few months has been the topic of legislative redistricting in Idaho. I have been contacted by over 50 people regarding this issue. It’s a valid but often abused process put in place to address governed populations, whether they are increasing or decreasing in a given area.
Redistricting in Idaho
- Redistricting is the process of redrawing state legislative and congressional district boundaries every 10 years following the U.S. Census. It happens nationwide.
- In Idaho, there is a bipartisan Idaho Commission that is appointed to help with the process of changing map boundaries. The commissioners are appointed by certain elected officials, and thus elections have consequences.
- This Redistricting Commission has been meeting since September (2021) and you can visit their website and read old meeting minutes or the biographies of the commissioners here: (Link to Redistricting Website)
- By law, the appointed commissioners are supposed to follow the State’s constitutional laws and rules to make their maps. Examples of rules include the number of districts allowed, keeping lines on major geographical boundaries or roads and highways, not splitting up communities or counites, and other rules all while keeping the numbers of voters in each district similar. You can read their criteria at THIS LINK.
- The public can create and submit their own maps and also offer input to the commissioners’ maps. Forty-two congressional maps and 92 legislative maps were submitted by citizens to the Redistricting Commission in 2021. These can be viewed at THIS LINK
- Final maps can be challenged. The current Idaho adopted legislative map plan is being challenged in the Idaho Supreme court due to perceived violations by the Commission and will be addressed in early January.
The Commission's final legislative map (adopted legislative plan) can be viewed HERE.
Gerrymandering
Many have asked me about gerrymandering. Here is a screen shot of my area including approximately where I live (the “X”) in relations to where the committee “chose” to draw the new line. My current district is Boundary and Bonner counties but the Commission and those who are in control of the redistricting process decided differently.
Other information about mapmaking:
Gerrymandering:
the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections. (Merriam-Webster)
Bipartisan gerrymandering (favoring incumbents).
The Supreme Court held in Gaffney v. Cummings (1973) that bipartisan gerrymanders are permissible under the Equal Protection Clause.
What is the main purpose of gerrymandering?
A primary goal of gerrymandering is to maximize the effect of supporters' votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes.
So what does all this mean…………? Elections have far reaching consequences. Be an educated voter and look at the character of your candidate. If elected, their actions and decisions can and will affect your life (and other’s) in both the short and long term.
The temperature at my house this morning!
Stay warm and safe this holiday season!
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