The Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is meeting March 23rd at 9:00 am. The meetings are open to the public. The link to the meeting is https://youtu.be/ZyUt8nuRFi4.
The Commission just selected an Executive Director, and is in the process of hiring staff and becoming fully operational. They have a new website at https://irc.az.gov/, but it is not fully built out yet.
The link to view the agenda is https://irc.az.gov/sites/default/files/meeting-agendas/3.23.21%20IRC%20Agenda.pdf. One of the agenda items is to discuss options for securing legal counsel. They can continue with representation from the Attorney General’s Office or “hire legal counsel, that is already procured, from the Attorney General’s Outside Counsel List” or continue with the RFP/procurement process. The second and third options have not been clearly explained to the public. Also yet to be decided is whether the Commission hires one law firm, or one law firm to protect Democratic interests and another law firm to protect Republican interests.
If you would like to submit public comments, this link, https://forms.gle/Ganu5pFv2v9rekUT8 will be activated shortly after 9:00 am, and remain open until just before the meeting adjourns.
Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission is re-formed every ten years to produce Congressional and Legislative districts. Prop 106, passed in 2000, gives them the authority to produce new maps “independent” of the State Legislature. They are mandated to start with a clean slate and produce maps that:
- Comply with US Constitution
- Comply with the Voting Rights Act
- Are of equal population
- Are geographically compact and contiguous
- Respect communities of interest
- Use geographic features, city, town and county boundaries, and undivided census tracts
- Are competitive
This year’s Commission is made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and one Independent. Commission members are:
Erika Schupak Neuberg, Chair (Independent)
Derrick Watchman, Vice-Chair (Democrat)
David Mehl, Commissioner (Republican)
Shereen Lerner, Commissioner (Democrat)
Douglas York, Commissioner (Republican)