Public Comments

My main worry is that the map looks too be taking Fort Collins and lumping it in with the entire Eastern side of the state. I don't think the concerns and issues in Fort Collins align anywhere near what a lot of the rural areas hold (judging by past elections). I understand it is meant to make things competitive, but it looks like it will be moving us into a very safe Republican seat. I am worried that it could cause issues with representation and not be as competitive as I hope. I am worried about the damage it could cause to our community. One of the reasons I moved here was the fact that someone would represent at least some of my beliefs and fear that will no longer be the case and my voice will be removed. Thank you for your time.

Boulder County absolutely should not be split apart into 3 separate Congressional districts! This violates the idea of keeping communities of interest together. The cities in Boulder County work closely with the county on matters of concern, including climate change issues, gun safety, transportation, energy issues, agriculture, and so on. I think that Boulder County (all of it, including Longmont) and Larimer County share common concerns about the northern Front Range and belong together. Including Greeley with those two counties makes a “university” district.

Our communuty has a wide ranging set of viewpoints, yet our roots stand strong as a rural, mountain community with conservative leaning beliefs. Based on our local governing bodies and the people I know, the established voters in the county are concerned about private property rights, right to ranch, small businesses rights, personal choice and freedoms, public lands and our local schools and departments. There is strong dissent for government overreach. I firmly believe Grand County should be redistricted to the 3rd district s we can have representation for our small, rural community.

Dear Commissioners: I would like to strongly urge you not to adopt a redistricting plan which will divide the communities of Boulder County. Our communities share many common interests including transportation, school districts, climate change initiatives, public health initiatives and more. Dividing our communities through redistricting will seriously undermine our ability to have our shared interests supported by our elected representatives. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Wendy Zerin, MD

Boulder County should be in one Congressional district. It is one community with common interests, needs and positions. Residents relate as County members and work together on issues of mutual interest such as gun control, climate change, transportation issues, schools and health care issues such as Covid unified responses. Please keep our community in one congressional district! Thank you!

Boulder County should not be separated into two or three districts. It should remain in tact die to similar interests and pursuits across the entire community. This is true for several issues including environment, education, gun safety, transportation and housing. Our community must stay together to support progress of our shared interests. We must be enabled to honor our historical identity and advance our goals as a unified district. Do not split us apart!

Input to 2nd Round of Redistricting Dear Commissioners, I am writing in regards to the second Congressional map released in the Colorado Redistricting process. Frankly, I am shocked at the changes made from the first map. The second map is terrible and SHOULD NOT BE APPROVED. The changes made to the 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts are truly awful. You seem to have thrown-out most of the criteria for designating the representative districts in favor of the ridiculous concept of making “competitive” districts. Having lived in a gerrymandered “competitive” district (HD 61) since 2011, I know what that means. You are pitting one community against another. I heard one of the Commissioners at the July 30, 2021meeting in Grand Junction state they thought creating “completive” districts would let the representative work out these differences in such a district, instead of letting the representatives do it at the statehouse. But reality shows that the representative follows the money, because the money keeps them in office. This is truly a bad idea. The Congressional map should be returned to the first version or the way the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Districts are currently drawn. This keeps the Western Slope as one district and does not combine the Western Slope with any part of the Front Range. These two communities do not have shared or common interests. The Front Range consistently tries to dictate to rural Colorado, in all areas. They only consider rural Colorado for as a source of resources they can take and places they can go play. I implore you to reject the current proposed Congressional District map and return to the version originally presented or even as the boundaries are presently drawn. This current map is simply shocking and does nothing to ensure Coloradans that the Redistricting Commission concept is fair and effective. It smacks of political activism. I am a native Coloradan, sixty-eight years old. I grew up on the Front Range but have lived in western Colorado since 1992. I am familiar with both communities and I do not have an innate bias against the Front Range. However, the Front Range has grown so much and is so absolutely self-absorbed that they care nothing for the needs and desires of rural Colorado. Please do not totally disenfranchise us. David Bradford

Hello, I am writing to tell you that I do not support the First Staff Map. IT is a non-starter for rural Colorado and ignores agriculture and rural Colorado's unique community of interest by combining it with urban and suburban populations. It fails to reflect the differences in water administration, ag industry makeup, and social landscape between eastern and western parts of the state and it ignores testimony from around the state regarding desired district lines. It also seems like a cruel ploy to take any say out of rural Colorado's hands.

My name is Bill Arrick and I reside in Teller County. I am an Unaffiliated voter. When I'm looking at the maps I am a bit concerned about the little pockets that are carved out of counties and wondering if that is being done just make them equal in population or to actually fulfill the 5% variance. I do recognize the need to do some splitting, especially in El Paso County as it has grown faster than much of the rest of the state along with the suburbs in Arapahoe and Adams where their population centers lie, but I am concerned about being too zealous in maintaining a strict enforcement of population totals at the expense of the variance allowance that maybe could keep county lines intact in most cases. Maybe I'm missing something here. I'm also not sure about some of the state legislative lines. I feel as though there has been some miscommunicating in getting the point across that we should view populations without any demographics although I understand the desire to see communities of interest sharing a boundary. I think we need to recognize that we are a quite diverse state with particular interests pocketed much more widely than was anticipated. The fact that UAF voters are our largest voting bloc makes districts considerably competitive and though many point out that we tend to vote along with the demographic of our districts, we are not pigeonholed into such a category. Thanks for your time, Bill Arrick

We have a farm in Loma, Colorado that produces wheat, straw, corn, and alfalfa Combining our needs with Urban populations that have no idea of the struggles we face to feed them is wrong.