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A voter fills in a ballot on a voting machine during Election Day voting at Vivint SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. Utah’s Independent Redistricting Commission is hoping to begin meeting in April to start work on a plan to redraw political boundaries.
Yukai Peng, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY What has historically been completed by partisan hands behind closed doors every 10 years, the redrawing of Utah’s political boundaries appears to be headed to a more open process as the newly organized Utah Independent Redistricting Commission will hold its first meeting today.
This week, we’ll get a chance to see a little bit of Utah history being made.
Tuesday will mark the first official meeting of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission. And all it took to get here was years of stonewalling by Republican legislators before voters took matters into their own hands with a ballot initiative.
Before we get too carried away, it’s important to keep in mind what this commission is and what it isn’t. The 7-member panel will recommend boundaries for congressional, state legislative and state school board districts to the Legislature which ultimately could adopt the commission’s maps or reject them altogether.
Ben McAdams and Natalie Gochnour: New redistricing commissions keeps the trust with Utah voters
(Rick Bowmer | AP photo)
Int his Jan. 17, 2020, file photo, the Utah State Capitol stands in Salt Lake City, Jan. 17, 2020.
By Ben McAdams and Natalie Gochnour | Special to The Tribune
| Feb. 27, 2021, 6:00 p.m.
Utah continues to set an example for the rest of the nation. The appointment of outstanding commissioners to the newly formed Independent Redistricting Commission marks a seminal moment in our shared commitment to a democracy born of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Redistricting is a once-in-a-decade process in which Utah and every other state in the country redraws the voting map for state legislative and U.S. congressional seats. Properly done, it ensures each voter receives equal representation by balancing the population among the various districts, so new districts reflect changes in demographics and growth within our state.
In November, roughly one out of every three Utahns voted for a Democrat to represent them in the state and federal Houses of Representatives.
But up at the Utah Legislature, only one-fifth of the House chamber are members of the state s minority party. And following January s swearing-in of Congressman Burgess Owens, Democrats are completely shut out of the state s federal delegation.
The disparity is nothing new. For the last decade if not longer Democratic candidates have regularly received around a third of the state s votes while winning considerably fewer than a third of Utah s electoral districts.
And that s unlikely to change when new districts are drawn this year, according to local political scientists, even with the unknown variable of a new independent redistricting commission that will recommend maps to lawmakers in what is ostensibly a check on gerrymandering, or the strategic and intentional grouping of voters to induce an electoral outcome.
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Starting next week, Zion National Park’s shuttle service will begin running on the weekends. This story and more in Monday evening s news brief.
Monday evening, February 1, 2021
State
Utah Lawmakers Name All Seven Redistricting Commission Members
Utah has put together its first ever independent redistricting commission. Monday, the governor and legislative leaders appointed all seven members. Voters approved a proposition in 2018 that created the commission. It will advise the state legislature on how to draw political districts. Gov. Spencer Cox appointed Brigham Young University professor Rex Facer as the chair. Republican legislative leadership picked former state Sen. Lyle Hillyard and former Congressman Rob Bishop. They also selected a Davis County digital mapper. Top democratic lawmakers named former Senate Minority leader Pat Jones and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham to the committee. The commission will use 2020 census data to draw di