We encourage county commissioners to make the districts identical for the port and county, and encourage Public Utility District commissioners to adopt the same boundary lines for the sake of consistency.
We also encourage county commissioners to open up the redistricting process, put the four options on the table and then hold a public meeting and public hearing to inform, then take testimony from members of the public.
Redrawing district boundaries is important because candidates must live in a specific boundary to run for office in the first place. Voters in an individual district narrow the list of candidates in the August primary election. Only after the field has been narrowed to the top two do voters countywide get an opportunity to vote in commission elections in November.
Every voter will get a new voter registration card once all the political boundaries have been set.
The first priority for county commissioners should be to make the three commission districts identical. It’s terribly confusing for voters if they vote in District 1 for county commission, but District 2 for the Port of Olympia. Standardizing the districts, which has been a priority in the past, should continue to be the goal.
The law says the new district boundaries must be as close in population as humanly possible. Auditor Kim Wyman, the county’s top election official, said, “We haven’t had significant population shifts (in the last 10 years) so we are fortunate in that. It’s a matter of moving a handful of precincts form one district to another.”
Today, District 1 runs from north to south, from Boston Harbor and Johnson Point through the heart of Olympia to include Tenino and Bucoda. District 1 needs to gain 928 voters.
District 2 is the eastern third of Thurston County and runs – again, north to south – from the Nisqually Reach through Lacey, Yelm and the Bald Hills. District 2 grew the fastest, and needs to shed about 4,100 voters.
District 3 is the western third of Thurston County and runs from Steamboat Island and Cooper Point on the north through Tumwater, Littlerock and Grand Mound/Rochester area. The district must gain 3,200 voters.
County commissioner Cathy Wolfe serves in District 1, along with Port Commissioner George Barner Jr. and PUD commissioner Paul J. Pickett.
District 2 has County Commissioner Sandra Romero, Port Commissioner Bill McGregor and PUD Commissioner Alan M. Corwin.
District 3 is represented by County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela, Port Commissioner Jeff Davis and PUD Commissioner Chris Stearns.
Here’s the interesting thing. Even though all three commissioner district boundaries run from the northern border to the southern border of the county, all nine commissioners live north of Tumwater and within a 15-mile radius of one another.
It’s no wonder, then that south county residents – people living in Littlerock, Grand Mound, Rochester, Tenino, Bucoda, Rainier and Yelm – feel underrepresented.
And it’s the reason why drawing the new boundaries is so important and why the public should be involved in that decision-making process.
Auditor Wyman’s office has put forth four options. Port commissioners have selected their favorite and PUD Commissioner Corwin has said, “The PUD has agreed to adopt the same commissioner districts as the county commissioners.”
County commissioners must put all four options out for public inspection and comment. They should schedule an informational meeting to help rural and urban residents understand the four options and the differences. A public hearing would let those south county residents who feel like they are getting shortchanged make the argument to – for example – shift to horizontal rather than vertical boundaries.
As commissioners contemplate the options before them between now and Dec. 7 when the new lines must be in place, the important thing is to make the boundaries identical and give the public an opportunity to comment.
