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Dear Friends & Neighbors,
I’m reaching out to remind you of the virtual redistricting public hearings happening now until September 13. There are many opportunities for Oregonians to engage, and if public speaking isn’t for you, you can simply submit written testimony to Oregon.redistricting@oregonlegislature.gov by 8:30 p.m. on September 13.
Redistricting will directly affect how you are represented for the next decade, and might lead to changes in funding for communities, transportation lines and accessibility, quality of schools, affordable housing resources, and emergency response support. I can’t overstate how important it is for every Oregonian to engage in one way or another.
For more information on how to participate in this critical process, please see below.
As always, please email me at: Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov or call (503) 986-1438 if you have any questions or need assistance with a state service.
Sincerely,
 Andrea Salinas
State Representative
On September 3, the Redistricting Committee released the first version of the state legislative and congressional maps to the public. You can view those maps here, and watch the committee discuss their maps here.
It’s crucial that members of the committee hear your feedback on these maps, and any additional information you believe is important for committee members to know as we complete this process. You can share your thoughts at one of the upcoming public hearings or by written comment.
 As I mentioned in my last newsletter, the increased spread of COVID-19 has pushed all of our previously planned in-person hearings to a completely virtual format. You can view the complete public hearing schedule here or in the graphics below, and you can sign up to testify here.
With the exception of the final two public hearings (which will take testimony from Oregonians statewide), the hearings will be organized by congressional district. Please be sure to sign up for the hearing in the district you live in. You can find that information here.
Below you will find a few helpful tips to make sure you provide the most effective testimony possible.
If you can’t make the public hearing times or prefer not to testify before the committees you can provide written comments by following the instructions I’ve included below. Written comments should focus on the draft maps that the committee released last Friday, which can be viewed here. You can also share more information that you believe is important for committee members to know as we work to finalize our maps.
Things to include in your written comment:
- Information about your community: how has your community grown? How does that change how the lines should be drawn for equal representation?
- Do current district boundaries divide any communities in your district that you think should be together?
- Has your community come together for common interests or services? What were those projects? Were they successful?
- Use data on income, education, housing, and transportation, for example, to compare different areas of your district.
Before you submit, here are two important reminders:
- Make sure you include in the body of the email which meeting you are submitting testimony to, and/or which county/congressional district you live in.
- Make sure that all the information you provide in your testimony is information you feel comfortable being part of the public record.
Once you’ve finalized your comments, send them to Oregon.Redistricting@oregonlegislature.gov as an attachment or in the body of your email.
The deadline for public map submissions has already passed. If you are interested in viewing the maps submitted by the public, you can do so here.
I met with Saundra Sorenson of the Skanner to discuss the many complex statutory and constitutional guidelines that govern the redistricting process and provided clarity on why not every district can be a perfect square.
“For better or for worse, people feel comfortable with ‘Oregon kind of looks like a square, so why wouldn’t our districts be in a square?’” she said. “And that’s very simple thinking. This is not a simple process. It’s very complex. And actually what it is asking us to do is to take into consideration what is happening on the ground with real people. And I keep trying to bring myself back to that as well: How is this going to affect real people on the ground?”
To read this article click here.
Sara Cline with the Associated Press covered the release of the maps drawn by the Committee for consideration. In response to my Co-Chair’s allegation that the 2011 maps were gerrymandered, I needed to respond with the following:
“With all due respect to my co-chair, repeating the false claim of gerrymandering doesn’t make it true. The maps that we’re basing our current maps on passed in 2011, and they were passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.”
To read the article in its entirety, click here.
I also met with KATU news and Rep. Boshart-Davis to discuss how redistricting will impact Oregonians.
email: Rep.AndreaSalinas@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1438
address: 900 Court St NE, H-485, Salem, OR, 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/salinas
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