Redistricting followup

The latest edition of the "approved" redistricting maps can be found here

The new proposed legislative district containing Wasatch County,  maintains the integrity of the county as a whole and combines it with some of Summit County (PKC).  While my preference would have been to remain united with Duchesne, this is probably not a bad alternative.  Wasatch fared much better than Duchesne, see below.

The consensus of those who "should" be concerned seems to be, as long as Wasatch is maintained as a whole entity in the legislative district with a 2 to 1 voting majority, it's fine.

Many also believe it is better to have more Senators representing us, as we would have problems influencing that election as a small county.  An interesting idea, but my comments are posted in the redistricting website (which is still soliciting comments - and the time is short, as the decision is scheduled to be made Monday in a Special Legislative session). 

 "I still maintain that community integrity is more important than the artificially forced goal of 0% deviation of population on already old data (census) to be used for the next decade during which the population distribution will obviously change. A multitude of unnecessary community division can, have and will, be reported. These will created problems for county clerks in modifying precinct boundaries to conform to these broken town et al boundaries.

If the intent is to avoid a lawsuit with 0%, I fear that will NOT work - logical natural geographical and community boundaries would be more defensible, and acceptable.

It is a difficult enough process as it is, without imposing this unnatural meaningless artificiality for a count in a moment of time.

These comments apply equally to the legislative and congressional districts. 

Duchesne:  From the Vernal Express  “On the floor there can still be amendments and changes, but after taking all of the public input in the summer this (House base map) is the consensus of where we’re at,” said Van Tassell, who conceded that the approved map affects Duchesne County “pretty severely.”

From the same article: “I have not decided whether I will be seeking reelection, no matter what the boundaries are in any seat in 2012,” (Rep. Kraig Powell) said Friday. “The Legislature is a very demanding job, especially in Utah, where it is always a second job. With family obligations and work obligations, I’m always struggling as to how to fulfill my legislative duties best.”