In a few months, Montana’s Districting and Apportionment Commission will finalize the state’s new maps outlining political districts. To kick things off, they’re looking at map submissions from the public.
Anyone can create a map using online tools based on criteria like population distribution, current political subdivisions and political competitiveness.
The commission is focused first on drawing the state into two congressional districts, and will turn its attention to legislative districts later on. The commission met Friday to discuss the process and to review more than 200 maps from the public.
Some of the maps imagine an east-west divide, which is what the state looked like the last time Montana had two congressional districts before 1992. Others drew the state into north-south districts.
A new criteria that hasn’t been considered before, but is up for discussion this year, is drawing districts that take political leanings into account so that neither party has a clear advantage.
Maps can be drawn and submitted at mtredistricting.gov.
Copyright 2021 Montana Public Radio. To see more, visit Montana Public Radio.