Speak up about redistricting
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Editor,
Montana is in the process of redistricting its legislative districts. Redistricting is the creation of new political boundaries so legislative districts include the same number of residents. Montana had a population of 989,415 in 2010. Since Montana has 100 House seats, each House district must contain as close to 9,894 people as practicable. The redistricting commission, which is made up of five members, is in the process of drawing up the new districts. Information about the commission, its members and copies of preliminary maps is available on the Internet at www.leg.mt.gov/districting.
The residents of Lake County have an opportunity to provide the commissioners input during a public hearing on Wednesday, March 14, at 1 p.m. in Pablo at the Tribal Council Chambers.
I would encourage you to provide input to the commission, either at the public hearing in Pablo or by sending a letter to the commission. Please review the preliminary maps on the Internet and provide the commission with your views on how these maps best fit your view of our county and the state. The maps will also be available for viewing at the public hearings. These preliminary maps are not final, so please provide the commission with ideas on how the new legislative districts should be re-drawn. Some of the criteria to be used will be compact and contiguous districts, geographic boundaries, and keeping communities of interest intact.
The commission needs input and views from local residents or we may just end up with lines drawn on a map to meet the required population within a district. So please participate to make sure Lake County will have our share of representation in the new districts.
Greg Hertz
Polson
