Lawmakers are taking Good Friday off as the legislative session moves into its final weeks. But that’s not stopping Republican members of the bipartisan committee on redistricting from renewing their calls to finish the job after hitting an impasse.
Hearings over redrawing Colorado’s seven congressional districts were filled with acrimony and finger pointing this week. Redistricting is mandated every decade when new census numbers are released. Republicans say Democrats are out of touch. Democrats say they are trying to keep things competitive.
With both sides at an impasse - Governor John Hickenlooper remains confident that a compromise can be reached. “I think it’s legitimate to expect that it would take a little time and that there would be a little turbulence at the very beginning, people would draw one map and the other side would draw another and they wouldn’t look very much like each other,” Hickenlooper says.
If both sides can’t agree the issue will go to the courts to be decided as was the case ten years ago. Redistricting committee co-chair, David Balmer (R-Centennial) says that their map would ensure that every voter has a voice. Democrats left this week's deliberations saying they will come back to the table with another version of their own map early next week.
