Washington’s redistricting commission admitted it failed to meet a midnight deadline to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps.
That’s despite making a show of voting on new maps late Monday following a five-hour meeting in which commissioners negotiated largely out of the public’s view. The failure of the bipartisan panel means the state’s election maps for the next decade — beginning with the 2022 midterms — will be in the hands of the state Supreme Court, which will have until April 30 to draw new boundaries.
The commission canceled a 10 a.m. news conference set for Tuesday.
The commissioners’ actions Monday night appeared to violate the state’s Open Public Meeting Act, which generally requires public commissions to debate and make decisions in public, said Mike Fancher, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. (Seattle Times)
