In a two-to-one vote Wednesday, Feb. 4, the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners advanced a proposed districting map to the November ballot. Commissioner Phil Chang, who does not support the map, said, “I do believe districts done right can be a way to provide better representation and guaranteed representation by someone who lives near you, in your neighborhood to all people in Deschutes County. That’s districts done right. These districts were not done right, and this is a flawed, rigged, gerrymandered product that we are talking about sending to the voters.”
Commissioners Patti Adair and Tony DeBone voted in favor of putting the map on the ballot to let voters decide. All commissioners expressed interest that, if voters approve the district map, it be redone after the 2030 U.S. Census. Legal counsel for the Deschutes County will look into whether the current commission could write that into the County code, or possibly, add a second ballot measure requiring the map be redone after the census.
Voters decided in 2024 to expand the commission from three to five members. Four of those seats will be on the ballot this May as at large seats. If voters approve the district map in November, it will take effect in 2028.
A commissioner-selected District Mapping Advisory Committee held a series of meetings around the county to determine how the districts should be determined. In a 4-3 vote, the committee advanced Map C to the county Board of Commissioners, which held two public hearings before the vote on Feb. 4.
Public testimony before the vote was mostly against the map, with a standing room only crowd holding a series of signs reading “Fight Rigged Districts,” “Districts are our future!!!” and “No Rigged Maps.”
Map C outlines two seats in Bend, one in Redmond, one in Sisters and one in the south county for La Pine and Sunriver. General public testimony has expressed concern that the map does not fairly reflect Bend, especially the southeast portion of the city which is growing the fastest. Some say the five districts deviate from the commissioners’ mandate to make the populations in each district be within 5% of each other, in some cases to over 10% — a dynamic that gives the county’s largest city of Bend just two districts, and favors conservative voters over the non-affiliated and Democratic voter majority. Many agree that the implementation of such districts is sure to result in legal battles that will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands in legal fees.
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As usual, the 2 Commissioners on the county commission did NOT listen to the voters, but decided against almost ALL testimony to put this terribly rigged and gerrymandered map to the voters. It’s going to cost the county big bucks, which could be put to MUCH better use, to defend an indefensible map. I am adamantly opposed to this map, even though I live in the very rural part of the county and want the newly elected commissioners to have an opportunity to decide rather than the ones that NEED to go, namely Tony DeBone and Patti Adair(who thankfully is leaving). So now we must defeat this at the ballot box in November, and we will. What a waste of time and money!