Here’s our advice for Franklin County on redrawing its voting districts | Editorial

Franklin County commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen would end up in the same voting district if it’s decided that the booming population in Pasco should carry more weight on the board than the county’s rural area.

While that’s a concern for farmers who want to make sure agriculture is well represented on the county commission, voting districts are based on population and Latino rights groups say their majority voice in the county is diluted under the current election system.

Any redistricting plan that tries to protect rural interests at the expense of the Latino vote is likely to be shot down in court, and moving forward those involved in setting new voting boundaries should keep that in mind.

A map proposed by a national voting rights organization would split Pasco into two voting districts and put the rest of the county into one.

That’s very different than the current map, which has a portion of Pasco as its own district, one completely rural district, and another mostly rural district that includes a significant part of Pasco.

The flip is meant to ensure fair representation for Latino residents who make up 54% of Franklin County’s population.

Change is coming, and residents who like the status quo must realize there may not be much they can do about it, despite a newly formed citizens redistricting committee.

Had county officials worked on redistricting sooner, they probably would have had more say. But now there are forces beyond the county’s control that will determine how new voting districts will be drawn..

Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, with the help of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, have filed a lawsuit against Franklin County claiming its election system discriminates against Latinos.

That means Franklin County Commissioners will not have final authority on a redistricting plan. Because of the lawsuit, any proposal also will have to be approved by the plaintiffs and by a judge.

Considering the UCLA Voting Rights Project already has a suggested map in mind, that’s probably what the group will want — or something very similar.

But a couple of weeks ago, Mullen suggested creating a citizens committee to work on redistricting — something the commission had discussed for months. Didier immediately supported the idea with a list of who should be on the committee, including county officials, the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, business and farming groups.

Additionally, Didier suggested each commissioner recommend someone to the committee. He has chosen Brett Ochoa of Mesa and Mullen has chosen Lupe Cardenas, owner of Cardenas Ag Supply.

Commissioner Brad Peck has chosen Felix Vargas of Pasco, a retired colonel and chairman of Consejo Latino — a Hispanic advisory group.

Both Didier and Mullen had said that they are concerned about appearing to adjust the boundaries to suit themselves and want a citizens committee to take charge of the effort. Unfortunately, it’s being formed after the lawsuit was filed instead of before, even though the county was notified six months earlier that a lawsuit was coming if nothing was done.

If it wasn’t for the suit, the new citizens group might have had a significant amount of influence.

But now? Not as much.

The redistricting committee is going to wait until new Washington state census figures are out in the fall before drawing new voting district boundaries, which isn’t a bad idea.

But along with gathering public input between now and then, committee members would be wise to include the plaintiffs in the process. If they don’t, they risk putting a lot of work into a plan that won’t be accepted in court.

Perhaps a representative from the plaintiffs should be included on the citizens committee, a suggestion Peck made earlier.

Peck said he would like to see the citizens committee talk with the plaintiffs to find common ground, and that voting districts are meant to be drawn to support people, “not geographic locations or industry or special interests.”

The new citizens committee should embrace this concept too, and make sure their new voting district map is something that will be accepted by the Latino community. Otherwise, all their work will be for naught.

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 12:17 PM.