Public Comments

Our family supports maps created by the non-partisan commission, and rejects any efforts to influence the Redistricting process by strictly partisan efforts. This means you, Republicans. We are paying attention.

This message is to both condemn the efforts of two republican lawmakers who are attempting to circumvent the work of the independent redistricting commission and to encourage the commission to stand firm in its commitment to transparency and integrity in following the due process established to ensure a fair review of the recommendations.

Dear Commissioners, Recently, the third staff map was released and seems reasonable in terms of keeping communities of interest aligned and not having strangely contorted districts (as Texas's recent congressional maps are). We all now that gerrymandering has been a tool used for many years to contort reapportioned districts to award an outsize number of legislative and congressional seats to one party. That is the reason that voters in Colorado established your commission, to endeavor to have fairly drawn districts that adequately and proportionately represent the citizenry. Unfortunately, several commissioners (of one party) will be offering a substitute map that does that very gerrymandering we are endeavoring to avoid in Colorado, and perhaps this offering would have been with the assistance of unreported lobbying. This would be a boon for one party, but a strike at the concepts that we proclaim in this our beloved country. Please reject any substitute maps brought to repartisanize our districting process. Thank you. Eileen McCarron, Denver

Stop trying to gerrymander Colorado.

On Tuesday, nonpartisan, neutral redistricting staff submitted their final set of legislative maps to the commission, which would ensure fair representation for the people of Colorado, as they wanted. But Republican legislative Redistricting Commissioners Hunter Barnett (R) and Aislinn Kottwitz (R) are working with non-disclosing and unregistered GOP operatives lobbying to shove through a last-minute set of maps to the Supreme Court that would fundamentally alter the make-up of the state senate and house, almost certainly ensuring control for Colorado Republicans over the next decade. This is a mockery of everything that Independent Redistricting Commissions are meant to stand for. I urge you to stand for transparency by rejecting any maps that could be tarnished by the ongoing, unreported lobbying to gerrymander legislative districts for the GOP. Reject these maps being pushed by Commissioners Barnett and Kottwitz and support maps drawn by nonpartisan staff.

For two of the redistricting commissioners to attempt to use partisan intermediaries and the Supreme Court as an end-run around the established process for redistricting to obtain an unfair advantage is completely unacceptable, and in violation of their duties. The agreed-upon maps and the established process must proceed without interference from what is fast becoming a partisan court. My community is united by its uneven needs and most residents' desires to lift up all members of the community so that all can enjoy the improvements being made without struggling every day just to live.

Please stop gerrymandering! Either party should be fair and not cheat to win!!!!

Please reject the redistricting plans put forth by Barnett and Kottwitz. These are a deceptful attempt to gerrymander in favor of the Republican party. This is unacceptable!

We voted for an independent commission to accomplish redistricting, please do not let GOP lobbyists change the map submitted to the court by the commission. Thar will undo the will of the voters. It seems the GOP is only good at cheating!

Please keep the maps as nonpartisan, neutral and transparent as possible and reject all lobbying to gerrymander legislative districts for either political party.