Oregon state leaders split on how to resolve redistricting dilemma as deadline approaches
(The Center Square) – With a sixth seat in the U.S. House on the line, the clock is ticking for Oregon leaders to decide how to redraw the state’s political future.
In the U.S., state legislative seats are bound to districts whose political borders are drawn every 10 years through a process called apportionment to guarantee fair political representation. The process is based on population data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau every decade. In Oregon, redrawing those borders is up to the state’s legislative majority and can be vetoed by the governor.
The problem for Oregon stems from the U.S. Census Bureau’s decision earlier this year to move its deadline to deliver its results to the states from April 1 to September 30. Oregon’s deadline to finish its redistricting efforts under the state constitution is July 1, months ahead of those results being available.
Since 2010, Oregon has had five seats in the U.S. House. Preliminary research from Vermont firm Polidata late last year shows Oregon is expected to pick up a sixth U.S. House seat in 2021. The U.S. Constitution does not provide a deadline to reapportion Congressional districts.
Oregon Republican lawmakers have called on the state to adopt an independent redistricting commission similar to those in Washington and California comprised of nonpartisan appointees selected by both state Democrat and GOP lawmakers.
“We believe very strongly that voters should choose their politicians, not the other way around. It is a conflict of interest at its very base level,” said Oregon House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, in a statement. “This should be one of the most bipartisan proposals that we see this session.”
In January, Drazan introduced a joint resolution setting up such a commission. It now sits in the House Rules Committee where it has not received a hearing.
A proposed measure reforming the state’s redistricting process was kept off the November ballot following a ruling by a federal judge last summer.
Under Oregon law, if state lawmakers fail to redraw the state’s 90 districts on July 1, the process then falls to Secretary of State Shemia Fagan to complete by August 15.
On Wednesday, Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, filed a petition to the Oregon Supreme Court requesting they be granted an extended deadline of December 30 to finish their redistricting efforts and restricting Fagan from instituting her own plan.
“While the Secretary of State is named as a defendant in this petition, we want to be clear that this is part of the normal process for seeking relief from the courts,” Courtney and Kotek wrote. “We all share the need for clarity on how to proceed in these unprecedented times.”
Waiting on the U.S. Census Bureau’s results could mean postponing upcoming state elections in 2022, which many state officials including Fagan say cannot be allowed to happen.
Fagan has since encouraged state lawmakers to go ahead with the redistricting process using any other data sources available to them, including studies from Portland State University’s Population Research Center.
In February, a state legislative committee hired a law firm, Markowitz Herbold, to explore ways of sidestepping the state’s constitutional deadline with the approval of the Oregon Supreme Court.
Elected as secretary of state last fall, Fagan is also leading nationwide efforts to abolish the Electoral College as Americans know it and pledged to help form a nonpartisan redistricting commission. She has not indicated when she might pursue the latter prospect.
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