Criticism as WA Panel Hastily Approves New Political Maps

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington’s redistricting commission approved new political maps for the state late Monday night amid criticism the panel may have skirted public meeting laws and might not have finished its work on time.

The Seattle Times reports the votes on the congressional and state legislative maps were taken just ahead of the bipartisan commission’s 11:59 p.m. Monday legal deadline to approve new boundaries, though they weren't immediately posted online.

A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Community feeling shut out

Washington’s 2021 commission consists of four voting members — two Democrats and two Republicans — appointed by legislative caucus leaders. The Democratic appointees were former legislator Brady Piñero Walkinshaw and state labor-council leader April Sims; Republican commissioners were former state legislators Joe Fain and Paul Graves.

By law, at least three of the four had to agree on new political maps by Nov. 15. If they failed, the mapmaking duties would be handed to the state Supreme Court, which would have until April 30 to draw the new maps.

That hasn’t happened since the state adopted a constitutional amendment handing redistricting authority to a bipartisan commission after the 1990 census.

The new maps for the state’s 10 U.S. House districts and 49 state legislative districts will be in place for the next decade, starting with the 2022 midterm elections. The state did gain a new U.S. House seat after the 2020 census, as it had done after the 2010 population count.

After going into a scheduled public meeting via Zoom at 7 p.m. Monday, the commissioners went into closed-door caucuses, with staff or commissioners appearing on video every half-hour to say the private talks were ongoing.

The non-public discussions drew criticisim.

“If a local government did anything like this the Legislature would spend months scolding every city and county across the state for months. This is a complete joke,” said Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young in a tweet.