Stop Gerrymandering Now: Submit Your Comments to the Redistricting Commission

The Independent Redistricting Commission will meet on Thursday to decide on Congressional and Legislative Draft Maps. They will discuss a pro-Republican map written by Anna Clark, the second vice-chair of the Pima County GOP, and surreptitiously submitted as being from the anti-worker Southern Arizona Leadership Council.

Democrats must continue to comment at the links below: Feel free to use the talking points below and/or repeat your previous comments.

• Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 9:30 am (comment early since the form is unavailable after the committee adjourns)
  Click here during the meeting for the comment form

“What we do from now until final maps will determine whether or not we have fair and competitive elections, and whether or not Arizona voters will have the ability to deliver a representative and responsive government for the next decade. We absolutely cannot afford to take our eye off the ball for the remainder of redistricting,” said Charlie Fisher, Executive Director of the AZ Democrats.

How Tucson will be cut into pieces

A set of proposed legislative districts submitted by a Tucson business group was actually submitted to the IRC by the No. 3 official in the Pima County Republican Party. Anna Clark, is the 2nd vice-chair of the Pima County Republican Party, as well as third vice chair of the GOP in legislative District 11.

Clark sent the map to pro-GOP Southern Arizona Leadership Council on October 20. Republican redistricting Commissioner David Mehl jammed the map in over objections from Democratic Commissioners.

The IRC met Tuesday and directed the mapping consultant to prepare three alternative LD maps for consideration at their Thursday meeting, LD Test Map v9.0, LD Test Map v9.1, and LD Test Map v9.2. directed the mapping consultant to prepare three alternative LD maps for consideration at their Thursday, Oct. 28 meeting: LD Test Map v9.0 (proposed by Democratic Commissioner Lerner), and LD Test Maps v9.1 and  v9.2 (Both proposed by Commissioner Mehl). You can read about Tuesday’s IRC meeting in this AZ Mirror article: Redistricting commission will review proposed Tucson changes as it prepares for big vote.

The difference between Commissioner Lerner’s LD Test Map v9.0 and Commissioner Mehl’s LD Test Maps v9.1 & 9.2 is how the Tucson area legislative districts are laid out, particularly D17.

• Commissioner Mehl’s v9.1 and v9.2 maps combine two geographically separate suburban areas, Marana/Oro Valley and Tanque Verde to Vail, into one safe Republican district. Read Business leaders push for map to guarantee Pima County GOP representation at Capitol in today’s Arizona Daily Star. Mehl and the Southern Arizona Leadership Council made plain that the goal of their proposed LD17 is to create a safe Republican district in the Tucson area.
• LD draft map versions 9.1 and 9.2 include Red Rock, SaddleBrooke, and SaddleBrooke Ranch in Pinal County along with Oro Valley, Marana, over the Catalina Mountains to Redington, Tanque Verde, and Vail. Both of these maps create a far-flung, solid Republican district, D17.

IRC general comment link is available anytime: Contact the IRC

Republicans push misinformation

“It’s one of the last possible opportunities to make sure that all our communities are fairly represented,” said Arizona Democratic Party Chair Sen. Raquel Teran. “Republicans are doing all that they can to sow confusion around the Arizona redistricting process. GOP leaders are shamelessly pushing their supporters into parroting their misinformation to the Independent Redistricting Commission, in an overt effort to influence the independent process towards a Republican gerrymander.”

For example, a dark money group called “Fair Maps Arizona” is working to undermine the redistricting process and torpedo fair maps. It was founded by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Gaynor and former Republican state legislator Jill Norgaard.

“What it all boils down to is that Republicans have a huge fear of voters. They have a huge fear of competitive maps,” said Alex Alvarez, the AZ Dems Communications Director. We need to advocate that the Commission follow its Constitutional duty to draw maps that are competitive, and which protect or enhance the power of communities of color.”

Focusing on new voting district LD17, “That is the definition of a gerrymander: Taking a district that was competitive and compact and allowing outside special interests to warp it to their purposes. This is what we are up against,” said Franny Sharpe, the AZ Dems Elections Director.

Oro Valley Talking Points:

• Community of interest – Oro Valley‘s larger community of interest is Casas Adobes and Tucson. Oro Valley shouldn’t be split into separate LDs.
• Respect for natural and city/county boundaries – Oro Valley should be in a Pima County LD and shouldn’t extend into Pinal County. Mountains are natural barriers and Oro Valley‘s LD should end west of the Catalina Mountains.
• Compactness – Oro Valley shouldn’t be in a sprawling district. It is suburban-urban. The proposed Legislative District 17 in LD draft map version 9.1 and 9.2 give outsized representation to rural places with which Oro Valley has little in common.
• Competitiveness – no party should be given a competitive advantage in the purple state of AZ. LD draft map version 9.1 and 9.2 give Republicans an unfair advantage due to packing Democrats into districts. Only 9.0 comes close to being representative of AZ’s competitiveness.

Visit the IRC Draft Map webpage to view draft maps and the IRC’s Demographic and Competitive Data Analysis for each draft map version (scroll to the bottom of the page).