Elections & Redistricting Proposed Solutions for a Growing - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Elections & Redistricting

Proposed Solutions for a Growing City

In Brief...

• Redistricting

○ Should the current redistricting method be reconsidered? ○ Interesting Work in Peer Cities ○ Best Method to Determine Council Boundaries ○ Plan to Engage CSU Students in Redistricting

• Elections

○ Plan to Engage Fort Collins Residents in Elections ○ Voting Services & Vendors

Proposed Solutions

• Inter-governmental Agreement

(IGA) between the county and the City regarding equipment

• Neighborhood registration to

define community boundaries

• Participation in a census update

every 5 years

• City of Fort Collins booths at

large local community events

• Allow citizen access to computer

aided redistricting software

• Adopt a Redistricting Process

Advisory Committee

Challenges Faced During Investigation

• Explicit guidelines set by the City Charter regarding redistricting
• Rapid population growth
• The City of Fort Collins already has great systems in place

Should the current redistricting method be reconsidered?

Yes.

• Rapidly growing districts

demand a response

• Boundaries and definitions of

“communities of interest” are needed

• Citizen involvement in

process is lacking

Interesting Work in Peer Cities

• City of Eugene, Oregon

○ Uses an Open Public Process that utilizes public input

• City of Colorado Springs, Colorado

○ Establish an appointed seven person Advisory Committee ( 6 elected by district and 1 at large)

• City of Austin, Texas

○ Redistrict via Independent Commission

Why are these cities important? What value can we take from these practices?

Best Methods to Determine Council Boundaries

• Submission of proposals through Online Maps (Esri)
• Including one seat for ASCSU or a CSU student on the board
• Community Liaison Program - Fort Collins Neighborhood Services

Plan to Engage CSU Students in Redistricting

• Current population of Fort Collins: 165,080 (2017).
• Current Student Enrollment at CSU: 33,413 (2017) - 20.24% of total pop.
• Student oriented proposals:

○ A program to educate students of CSU to participate in City processes, ○ An outreach program to accrue student candidates for City Council ○ Dividing District 1 into two seats ■ Appoint ASCSU President to newly created seat ■ Change mayor pro tem to an elected position to maintain an odd number balance on Council with 9 members

Plan to Engage Fort Collins Residents in Elections

• Fort Collins city voter turnout = 28.25% (mail ballot)
• Larimer County Voter turnout = 77.8% in 2016
• Consider electronic voting (E-voting).
• Include voter registration booths at city events (i.e. New WestFest)

The voting systems vendor currently utilized by the City of Fort Collins is Dominion.

media@essvote.com

Election Systems & Software

Hart InterCivic hartsupport @hartic.com

Next Steps:

• Create a steering committee to begin student outreach
• Consult with Esri for use of Online Maps to enable citizen

engagement in redistricting

• Launch in-depth assessment of City charter rules

concerning redistricting practices

○ Consider splitting District 1 according to student redistricting proposal ○ Explore options for neighborhood registration system

Questions?