DENVER (AP/KDVR) — Colorado’s nonpartisan redistricting commission released its third and final version of the state’s congressional map.
The congressional commission will review the map and plan virtually on Sept. 24 at 2:00 p.m., then discuss and recommend amendments on Sept. 25.
Commissioners have until Sept. 28 to either approve it or agree on an alternative. Otherwise the current map goes to the Colorado Supreme Court by Oct. 1 and becomes official.
The map preserves the current four Democratic-leaning and three Republican-leaning House districts in the state. It adds an eighth one north of Denver that will be a true swing district, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. That makes it possible the congressional districts would be evenly divided between the two parties even though Democrats dominate the state.
The Colorado Constitution states that the new congressional districts must:
- Have equal population, justifying each variance, no matter how small, as required by the U.S. Constitution;
- Be composed of contiguous geographic areas;
- Comply with the federal “Voting Rights Act of 1965,” as amended;
- Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns;
- Be as compact as is reasonably possible; and
- Thereafter, maximize the number of politically competitive districts.
Districts cannot be drawn for the purpose of:
- Protecting incumbents or declared candidates of the U.S. House of Representatives or any political party; or
- Denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person’s race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group’s electoral influence.