Press Room

Colorado Compromise redistricting map heads to the full Senate for a vote

Friday, May 6 2011

“Let’s break the 30-year trend of sending this to court.”

DENVER— The “Colorado Compromise” redistricting map has cleared committee and will now head to the full Senate for a vote. This action comes as legislators take on the constitutionally mandated task of redrawing Colorado’s congressional lines. Redistricting must take place every 10 years following the U.S. Census.

The Colorado Compromise map came together by taking public input given at meetings around the state, and it incorporates ideas advanced by both parties. The Colorado Compromise map includes districts that are competitive (five out of seven districts have less than a seven point difference between registered Republicans and Democrats) and that protect communities of interest such as city and county boundaries and transportation corridors.

At the beginning of this legislative session, legislators formed an historic bipartisan redistricting committee. As originally conceived, the bipartisan committee was to work together to take input from people across the state and use that input to create a map that all sides could agree on. For the past 30 years, Colorado congressional maps have been settled in court, a costly and contentious outcome that legislators hope to avoid.

Since the committee completed its work on Friday, April 22, the Democrats and Republicans have each introduced their own maps, but neither map had consensus amongst the committee members. The “Colorado Compromise” map Democrats have introduced has its origins in a bipartisan negotiating effort that incorporates the public testimony the committee received and reflects input gathered since the first introduction of redistricting maps on April 15.

On the committee passage of the Colorado Compromise map, Joint Redistricting Committee Co-Chair Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) offered the following comment:

“I’m glad this map passed the committee. The Colorado Compromise is based on input we received from community members across the state. This map is designed to create competitive congressional districts so that Colorado voters better hold their elected representatives accountable. It’s important that we try to get this done through the legislative process. Let’s break the 30-year trend of sending this to court.”

Below is a copy of the Colorado Compromise redistricting map and the correlating voter registration numbers for each congressional district:

(Click to enlarge map)

Below is a Metro area map of the “Colorado Compromise”

(Click to enlarge map)

Points of Compromise:

Below are points of compromise between “The Colorado Compromise” map released today and previous maps, both Democratic and Republican:

CD2-Does not put Grand Junction and Boulder in the same district. Central Mountain Community and tourism-based economy whole while other maps put Eagle County with parts of Weld County.

CD3- Does not put Grand Junction and Boulder in the same district. Keeps Western Slope whole to the same extent that Republican maps do.

CD4-Keeps Northern Colorado together and is more compact; while other maps have put Fort Collins and Baca County (South Eastern corner of Colorado) in the same district.

CD5-Keeps El Paso County whole based upon Republican requests. 5 military bases are kept together while other maps put Park (a Central Mountain County) with Elbert (an Eastern Plains County) in the same district.

CD6-Preserves E-470, C-470, I-225 transportation corridors while alternate maps put Parker with East Colfax in the same district.

CD7-Protects city integrity while alternate maps have split cities like Arvada, Westminster and Littleton.