Slow, steady democracy

It is 2021, the year after the 2020 census and so the time when a Washington commission will – as by some method in every state – plan and determine district boundaries for state and congressional legislative districts. Boring, right? Did you know this happens?

Voter, that is citizen, representation, is a key purpose of the census, part of the United States Constitution. In Washington, a bi-partisan commission, its members chosen by Democratic and Republican legislators, will hold public hearings before shaping existing districts to match population changes.

The state’s continued, decades long growth is nurtured by Seattle’s technology oriented economy and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Puget Sound is the anchor for west of the Cascades population growth stretching north through Skagit County to Canada.

The state’s population tilts west. The set size of state and federal legislatures requires adjusting boundaries so that the population within each district is roughly equal.

We all have the opportunity to speak up, sharing our concerns and offering suggestions. Do we want this county divided into three state representative and two congressional districts? La Connerites vote with folks from Stanwood while Anacortes shares a district with Bellingham for state legislators. Our Second Congressional District runs up I-5 through Bellingham while most of Mount Vernon votes in the First District, east of I-5. Itstretches from Canada into King County.

The state’s League of Women Voters is hosting “Redistricting 101” Feb. 6 and a “Speak Up School” in March to prepare residents to do just that – understand the background and ground rules and to testify – at redistricting commission hearings later in the year. Attend. Learn. Participate.

This steady, deliberative turning of the wheel of democracy is not flashy. It is peaceful. It is patriotic. It is slow and within the system.

Reforms are needed, starting with a nonpartisan commission, from taking the decision making from the major political parties to including how and who is chosen for the commission. Those will take time. Reforms require organizing, petition drives, perhaps legislation or a state referendum. That is not easy work and it will not be done by the end of any one officeholder’s term. Any changes asked of and made by the legislature will be small and favor the status quo.

Like all aspects of elections at every level, from local to national, the mechanisms of redistricting are transparent and overseen by a combination of elected officials, professionals and volunteers. None of them are either revolutionaries or traitors and none of them need or deserve being overthrown by violent insurrection.

What in our time could possibly prompt insurrection or civil war?

Register at skagitlwv.org for Feb. 6. Or go to lwvsnoho.org for the class Feb. 18.