On Tuesday, March 29, Denver City Council voted to approve the final redistricting map. Redistricting occurs every 10 years using the most recent U.S. Census data, and Denver City Council is required to lead this process to redraw council district boundaries. This redistricting process was led by Councilmember Amanda P. Sandoval who served as Chair of the Redistricting Working Group, and joined by Councilmember Chris Herndon as Vice Chair, and Councilmember Kendra Black.
“Chairing the Redistricting process for Denver was an honor and privilege, for the first time in history we went to the residents and asked them to help us define their Communities of Interest, draw and submit maps, and have a third-party facilitator who created a report incorporating the feedback we received during the map vetting process,” said Councilmember Amanda P. Sandoval. “I believe we lead with transparency and given the truncated timeline did our very best to be inclusive of the diverse communities within Denver. Thank you to everyone who participated in the process and provided comments and feedback, we couldn’t have done this without you.”
For the first time in Denver’s history, City Council used mapping software during the community outreach to provide an interactive mapping process for constituents and collate feedback. There were also 6 citywide meetings held to discuss redistricting and proposed maps; two meetings were conducted virtually and four were held in-person. Council understands the connection embodied in each community in the City and County of Denver and advanced maps that would best represent the city’s voices and capture the needs of Denver’s communities of interest.
“City Council leaned into the responsibility of redistricting and created more opportunities than ever before to hear from community throughout the process,” said Council President Gilmore. “I’m proud of this council’s work and sincerely appreciate the robust participation by our citizens to inform the final map.”
The proposed council district maps submitted had to follow criteria set in the Denver City Charter including Denver must be divided into 11 districts and have an equal population in each district. The target population for each district is 65,047 people. The maps must also have compactness, contain contiguous territory, and be comprised of whole election precincts.
“I want to thank Denver residents who took the time to engage in the redistricting process, whether you produced a public map, attended a meeting, communicated with your councilperson, or spoke at public comment,” said Council Pro Tem Jamie Torres. “This year’s effort was done under a dramatically tighter time frame than in previous years and yet had more public opportunity for input than ever before. That is something we should be proud of and continue to improve upon in the future.”
