The Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners voted to place a divisive districting proposal on November’s general election ballot.
After hearing heated commentary from the public during the July 15 meeting, county commissioners voted 2 to 1, approving edited language for the ballot measure. Commissioner Phil Chang was the sole opponent.
To the satisfaction of word nerds and legal beagles in attendance, commissioners took pains over the meanings of “mode” versus “method,” “elector” and “voter.” With a limit of 175 words, they worked with county legal counsel to craft the measure’s title, the map’s caption and the summary. The deadline is Aug. 14.
By the end of the meeting the ballot question stands to read: “Shall Deschutes County electors elect commissioners by each of the geographic districts instead of just Deschutes County?”
Before the vote, Chang encouraged board members not to proceed with the ballot measure, saying that the District Mapping Advisory Committee’s ultimate map proposal was “problematically constituted, the process was flawed” owing to its reliance on its count of registered voters instead of total population. Chang noted that the population difference between certain districts is substantial. He also cited a discernible partisan advantage to this map’s configuration.
Chang voiced concern with north Deschutes County districts. District 5 excludes Redmond, grouping Sisters with Terrebonne. He said that doesn’t make sense for many people in Terrebonne, for whom Redmond is a hub of employment, education, commerce and healthcare — much more so than Sisters.
“I predict this will be defeated at the ballot and that there will be legal challenges,” Chang said. “I would encourage you to spare us that whole drama and cost in the next six months.”
Chang brought up the potential for legal challenges to the districting map and how much that might cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.
County Counsel Dave Doyle told the BOCC that he anticipates legal pushback, should the districting map pass in November.
“A number of folks have indicated they plan to file legal challenges,” Doyle said. “I’ve heard that here today and I’ve heard that in prior public hearings. I have no reason to doubt them: a number are lawyer-types and judge-types, people who certainly know how to do litigation and legal challenges.”
Those legal challenges, Doyle continued, may concern whether the wording of the ballot title is “insufficient, not concise or unfair,” as detailed by ORS 250.195. He added that his team endeavored to be as fair as possible in the recommended language. A circuit judge would be the ultimate decider on the matter. ORS 258, Doyle noted, also provides criteria by which additional challenges might be waged.
During the meeting, several folks held signs in their laps that read: “Fight Rigged Districts.”
During the public comment session, James Thrower chided the BOCC.
“You’re about to embark on another fiasco with this [districting] plan. It will certainly be appealed and it will result in a huge waste of money,” Thrower said. “Any of you who seek any future office may as well hang a sign on your neck that says, ‘I have poor judgement, I make illegal decisions and I waste taxpayer money.’”
Melanie Kebler, mayor of Bend and a DMAC member, also voiced her opposition to the ballot. She said using mid-Census data is a bad idea in a county as fast-growing as Deschutes.
“I disagree that this map represents distinct regions of our county,” Kebler said. “What this map does is crack Bend into several districts while also packing Democratic voters in Bend into specific districts.”
She said the map is unfair on several levels, including the potential result of electors only getting to vote for the single commissioner in their respective district. As the Commission now expands to five, presently voters have a say about each who occupies each of the five commission seats.
“What you are doing is mitigating for what folks have changed in governance by inserting yourselves into a process to create a gerrymandered map,” Kebler said. “And I don’t think that is fair to our county.”
Another critic of the map is Amy Sabbadini, who faces off against Lauren Connally for commissioner position 3 in the November election. During her comment, Sabbadini told the commissioners to press pause on the districting map proposal.
“There is so much fearmongering and flaw in the process that happened here,” she said, adding that she’s not inherently opposed to districting. “It’s creating a very divisive moment in our county at a time when we need to come together. Instead of creating a divisive and parochial district map, let’s work collaboratively to solve these problems with a proper charter process so we can have some thoughtful decision-making about how the county runs.”
The general election is Nov. 3.
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