Redistricting Effort Underway

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) As much as it's possible, Utah lawmakers say they plan to keep partisanship out of their efforts to re-draw congressional district boundaries and create a new fourth seat. Senator Curt Bramble - the Republican lawmaker assigned to co-chair the legislature's redistricting committee - says they will purposely avoid any data on voter affiliation:

"The legislative database that we're using doesn't have any partisan voting information," says Bramble.

Broad generalizations based on which party holds office in each district are likely to play into the debate. Three of the eleven redistricting committee members are Democrats. Bramble says the main challenge is to get all four seats as equal in size as possible.

Today the committee will approve a handful of map options that will then be taken on the road for public hearings in Provo, Price and Saint George on Monday and Salt Lake, Ogden and Park City on Tuesday. A special session to approve the map is tentatively scheduled for December 1st.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW