By Pepper Fisher
CLALLAM COUNTY – The 2020 census count is complete, but the Census Bureau is still processing the data before releasing it to state officials. Specifically, their website says they’ll get the data out as close as possible to this coming April 1.
Redrawing the boundaries of legislative districts is one of the primary purposes of conducting a census every 10 years, and that includes the 3 districts in Clallam County, represented by your County Commissioners.
With that in mind, Commissioners are now seeking applications from interested citizens for appointment to the Districting Commission. From those applications, each Commissioner will appoint one committee member to represent their district. Our county’s charter also states that the central committees of the local Democratic and Republican parties will each appoint one member, for a total of 5.
County Commissioner Mark Ozias says the charter has very specific guidelines for the committee to follow.
“And, in essence, the goal is to create three districts that are roughly equal in population. They don’t have to be exactly equivalent down to the person, but they need to be pretty darn close. Our districts are intended to run on north-south boundary lines. And our other job is to not intentionally break up any distinctive demographic or other groups.”
Groups and demographics might include tribal communities or even existing voter precincts, making the kind of gerrymandering we see in some parts of the country very difficult.
“My goal is to make sure that this process doesn’t end up with gerrymandered districts. But, you know, given the specificity with which our County Charter, or the specificity of the instructions, it would make it very difficult to even create a gerrymandered district in Clallam County.”
We asked Commissioner Ozias if he had any predictions for how our current district parameters will change, starting with his District 1, who’s border now runs roughly through the Agnew area.
“I am expecting, based on the, you know, just the trend for the last 10 years, that what we’re going to see is that District One, the boundary line is going to move farther east. In other words, closer to Sequim. I would also expect that the eastern boundary of District 3, so Commissioner Peach’s boundary, which right now is somewhere around the airport, is going to also move farther east and incorporate more of Port Angeles proper. So, you know, it’ll be very interesting to see what the census numbers tell us. But that would be my expectation.”
Interested citizens are invited to complete a committee application by clicking here, or by calling your Board of Commissioners directly at (360)-417-2233.
Applications are due no later than Thursday, December 31, at 4:30 p.m.