AURORA | Colorado voters agreed with most Democrats and Republicans statewide: approve Amendments Y and Z — which take aim at political antics that have shaped partisan politics in the form of gerrymandering statehouse and congressional districts.
Both passed with more than 75 percent approval, according to election officials early Wednesday morning. Results still are not officials.
The measures are a rare occurrence that has support from just about everyone. Fair Maps Colorado, which is leading the effort on the questions, claims it has the backing of all five living governors. The two questions were also referred to the ballot by the politically polarized state House and Senate chambers.
The two questions, which are amendments to the state Constitution, address the same issue of gerrymandering. One question focuses on state districts (Amendment Z) and the other on congressional districts (Amendment Y).
Redistricting takes place every 10 years after the Census is completed. The amendments now require a commission charged with redistricting decisions be made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and four unaffiliated members. Fair Maps argues that better reflects the state’s political makeup. Applications for the panel are to be reviewed by three retired judges who will be required to unanimously select six members of the panel that represent Colorado geographically and demographically. The other six will be chosen by a lottery system.
Additionally, the amendments add certain transparency and ethical requirements, such as requiring that state open records laws apply to the commission, holding three public hearings of the proposed map in each congressional district and a 72-hour waiting period for adopting the map.
The amendments specify that a nonpartisan staff should be the first to draft a redistricting map, and up to three more maps in case the panel is unable to decide on the first. The map is then submitted to the Colorado Supreme Court for review.
Eight of the 12 commissioners will have to agree to the proposed map; at least two of them have to be unaffiliated commissioners.
The pair of amendments had an army of supporters, which ranged from aforementioned former governors to the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and local city council members.
