ELECTED OFFICIALS SPEAK OUT - LOS FUNCIONARIOS ELEGIDOS HABLAN
2022 Council Redistricting By Denver City Council President Stacie Gilmore
As you all know Denver has significantly grown over the past decade in residents, development, and amenities. Every 10 years, the new voter precincts are set by the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Then Denver City Council districts must evaluate the increase in population and the district boundaries using the U.S. Census Data to ensure equal and proportionate representation in each council district. This means creating council districts that are as evenly populated and as geographically compact and reasonable as possible to uphold the one-person- one vote standard in the U.S. Constitution.
For the first time in Denver’s history, City Council is using technology and expanded community outreach to hear from our community during this process. Members of the City Council and the residents constructed council district maps that must abide by several rules according to the Denver City Charter. The charter specifies Denver must be divided into 11 districts and have an equal population in each district, the population target for each district in 2022 is 65,047 people. The maps must also have compactness, contain contiguous territory, and be comprised of whole election precincts, again that were
MUSE - Montbello Urban Spectrum Edition – March/April 2022
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drawn by the Clerk and Recorder. This January, multiple maps were drawn and submitted for review by members of the City Council and Denverites. Taking into consideration the maps submitted, Council members then submitted 6 redistricting maps that the public reviewed in February. There were 6 wellattended community meetings, 2 of which were virtual and 4 that were held in-person throughout the city. Community members were able to view each map, identify what they liked or disliked about each map, and comment on what they felt could be improved. City Council will uti-
