The King County Districting Committee announced four town hall meeting dates to gather public input on draft maps for redrawing King County Council districts. The committee is working on finalizing draft maps that will be posted on its website, www.kingcounty.gov/districting, in early October.
Before beginning work on the draft maps, the committee held more than 20 community listening sessions to gather community input and learn about communities of interest.
The committee next will host four town hall meetings to discuss the plans and gather input at:
2 p.m. Oct. 17 via Zoom
2 p.m. Oct. 19 via Zoom
2 p.m. Oct. 20 via Zoom
7 p.m. Oct. 21 via Zoom
To find out how to participate, visit www.kingcounty.gov/districting. Community members can also provide written testimony by emailing districting@kingcounty.gov. Interpretation will be available in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and American Sign Language. For additional requests, email districting@kingcounty.gov.
Following the town hall meetings and further study by the districting committee, a single final plan must be approved. A public hearing on the final draft plan is slated for Nov. 30.
By law, council district boundaries must be redrawn after each U.S. Census to make each district as nearly equal in population as possible using the most recent Census data. The new district boundaries must be compact, contiguous and composed of economic and geographic units. As much as possible, the districts must correspond with the boundaries of existing municipalities, election precincts, census tracts, recognized natural boundaries and preserve communities of related and mutual interest. Population data may not be used to favor any racial group or political party. The County Charter places responsibility for redistricting with the independent citizen districting committee. The adopted final district plan will establish the new King County Council district boundaries.