By Irene Finley, LWV Clark County Redistricting Committee Lead, Member of the LWVWA Redistricting Reform Task Force  

A Washington Western District Court judge ordered on Thursday, August 10, 2023, that Washington “redraw a legislative district in the Yakima Valley region because its current boundaries undermine the ability of Latino voters to participate equally in elections.” You can learn more here.

Highlights from the decision: 

• U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik invalidated the map for the 15th Legislative District drawn by the bipartisan state Redistricting Commission in 2021. 
  

• The district encompasses parts of five counties in south-central Washington and is represented by three Republicans.

• Lasnik wrote in his 32-page decision that the “line-drawing which, in combination with the social and historical conditions in the Yakima Valley region, impairs the ability of Latino voters in that area to elect their candidate of choice on an equal basis with other voters.”

• The state needs to reconvene the Redistricting Commission and draw up new boundaries, due to the state Legislature by Jan. 8, 2024, for enactment by Feb. 7.  
  

• If the commission does not meet the deadline, the federal court will decide the maps. “Regardless of whether the State or the Court adopts the new redistricting plan, it will be transmitted to the Secretary of State on or before March 25, 2024, so that it will be in effect for the 2024 elections,” Lasnik concluded.

The current redistricting process was established in 1983, when the WA Legislature created the bipartisan Redistricting Commission configured to have two commissioners from each of the major political parties and a non-voting chair. The redistricting process occurs every ten years, and is when new legislative districts are drawn nation-wide. This process was last undertaken in 2021.

The League of Women Voters of Washington has a long history with redistricting reform—with positions dating from 1955 ("Redistricting and Reapportionment," p. 17). Before the redistricting process in 2021, the League released a 2017 report, “A Review of Redistricting in Washington State” which concluded the need for redistricting reform even before the 2021 Commission failed to finish maps and settled or lost multiple lawsuits.

Before redistricting in 2021, the LWVWA also led public education and training opportunities, called Speak Up Schools, and convened listening sessions for communities across the State that resulted in a League-supported legislative map for the Yakima Valley, presented to the Commission. This map kept together most of Yakima and the Yakima Tribal Lands in southern Yakima County.  

Whether the Redistricting Commission is reconvened, or the federal courts remap the Yakima Valley, the new maps could change the 15th, 14th, 16th, and 8th legislative districts, perhaps others as well.

The Redistricting Reform Campaign Task Force is working to bring about needed change. To become involved, contact Issue Chair Alison McCaffree, amccaffree@lwvwa.org, (253) 720-6813.