Leadership Class 27 is calling their project "Every Voice Belongs: A Model for Inclusive Participation." With the 2020 census complete, Utah's independent redistricting committee will make recommendations for new voting district boundaries for every state representative. Class member Kris Campbell said the leadership class decided to focus on keeping communities of interest together by engaging residents of Summit County to get involved in the statewide redistricting effort.
"Our districts right now in Summit County divide up our communities. So Pinebrook is part of three different house districts, two different senate districts, and that's just one neighborhood. And similarly, other neighborhoods are split up. Park City School District is split across three different house districts. That fracturing of our community can make it hard for people to feel like their voices are heard or feel like they're represented." He said.
Campbell said the public submitted more than 1,000 new redistricting maps to the independent committee.
Class member Eyee Hsu said there is an opportunity on October 20 for the public to give input during a remote Zoom call hosted by the class. It will allow people to go through a map-drawing exercise and make submissions to the state committee.
"And I do want to note that everybody has an opportunity until October 22 to submit their maps. So, if you again, can't make the zoom call on Wednesday, you could go to representable.org and submit your own map. And that will be included in what's being sent to the independent commission.” Hsu said.
Spanish language translation services will be available during the October 22 virtual event.
The public redistricting gathering is on Oct 20th from 6-7:30 pm via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/s/84835034776.
Summit County's current district voting maps are available here.
The Utah Independent Redistricting Commission (UIRC) website is https://uirc.utah.gov.
The legislative redistricting committee website is https://redistricting.utah.gov.