CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING MAP, PART 2

posted by Michael Chihak

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission voted 3-1, with one member abstaining, on the latest version of a congressional district map. It now goes to public hearings for 30 days.

The map adds a ninth congressional district, based on the state's population growth in the last decade. That ninth district will largely encompass a population around Phoenix.

A key feature of the map is that two districts, from Tucson's west side to the southwestern corner of the state and a second from west Phoenix to the Maricopa County western line with La Paz County, remain intact as majority-minority districts.

That could help satisfy dictates of the U.S. Justice Department and the Voting Rights Act.

Republican Commissioner Richard Stertz voted against the proposed map, saying he had not been given enough time to study the numbers. Republican Commissioner Scott Freeman abstained. Democrats Linda McNulty and Jose Herrera and independent Colleen Mathis voted for it.