When Yvette Joseph, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, ran for the 7th Legislative District in northeast Washington in 2004, she faced a structural disadvantage due to where the districtâs western border line was drawn.
âI looked and was sort of shocked that it ran right through the reservation. So essentially, half of my family could vote for me and the other half could not,â she said.
It may seem like an obscure act of cartography, but how Washington stateâs political maps are redrawn this year will help determine who gets elected and, in turn, the future of the state.