Your Action of the Week is to educate yourself about proposed redistricting and attend one of the forums around the state.
Gerrymandering, the drawing of political boundaries to advantage one party over others or to create non-competitive districts, is a huge problem around the nation and here in Oregon. We saw with our November election, especially at the state level, far too many non-competitive seats. We know competitive political races bring more people out to vote, increasing our relatively high turnout. Redistricting will happen in 2021 following the next census. It is highly likely that Oregon will gain an additional Congressional seat, so the fair, nonpartisan redrawing of districts will be even more important, and difficult. Secretary of State, Dennis Richardson convened a commission to look at and make recommendations for how this process should work. The commission’s report suggested following the lead of CA and made some suggestions for how it might work. Read that report here. No action has been taken on the report. Willamette Week in Portland reported that former Sen Kevin Mannix proposed an initiative for the Nov 2020 ballot to direct how redistricting should work. His initiative would advantage rural counties over urban. Read the Willamette Week article here The Oregon League of Women Voters and Oregon Common Cause are co-sponsoring a series of Redistricting Reform Forums across the state. The League supports a redistricting process putting the redistricting process back into the hands of voters to create fair, representative districts. Redistricting Reform Forums Tuesday, Nov. 20th, 1:30-3:30 pm, Curry Public Library in Gold Beach Tuesday, Nov. 27th, from 11 am-1 pm, Atonement Lutheran Church in Newport Tuesday, Nov. 27th, from 7-8:30 pm, Coos Bay City Hall in Coos Bay Wednesday, Nov. 28th, from 5-8 pm, Taborspace in the Copeland Commons inPortland Thursday, Nov. 29th, from 6:30-8 pm PCC Willow Creek Main Building, rm. 103 in Washington County Tuesday, Dec. 4th, from (TBD), (TBD) in Albany Thursday, Dec. 6th, from 12-1 pm, Hilton Garden Inn, hosted by the City Club in Springfield Thursday, Dec. 6th, from 6-8 pm, Wilsonville Public Library in Willsonville (TBD), (Corvallis Library) in Corvallis And in the Capital building in Salem: LWVOR Redistricting Legislative Forum: Thursday, Dec. 13th, from 8 am-12 pm, Capitol Building at State St NB, rm. 162, in Salem Questions? Please contact the League of Women Voters of Oregon’s Campaign Coordinator Candalynn Johnson at Candalynn@lwvor.org for more information about these forums.
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