(The Center Square) – Spokane City Council members on Monday approved a resolution supporting a Feb. 13 ballot measure to revamp the process which determines the members’ district boundaries.
Voters will have the final say during next week’s special election.
The city has three defined legislative districts, each with two elected representatives serving on the council. By law, government jurisdictions with legislative bodies at the local, state, and federal levels must establish commissions every 10 years to set voting districts that fairly balance populations based on the most recent decennial census.
As proposed, Measure No. 2 calls for amending Spokane’s city charter to implement a new redistricting process. Changes would include:
expanding the current redistricting commission from three to seven members to provide greater representation reflecting “geographic and demographic diversity;”increasing the number of meetings by the commission in its redistricting deliberations, restricting special interest and political influences, and prioritizing boundaries for neighborhoods and communities “of shared interests” while recognizing natural boundaries; andintroducing an option for citizen-led redistricting and prohibiting the city council itself from modifying district maps.