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 City of Fort Collins booths at ● ● (IGA) between the county and large local community events the City regarding equipment Allow citizen access to computer ● Neighborhood registration to aided redistricting software ● define community boundaries ● Adopt a Redistricting Process Participation in a census update Advisory Committee ● every 5 years

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 Why are these cities important? Uses an Open Public Process that ○ What value can we take from these utilizes public input practices? 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

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)

media@essvote.com Election The voting Systems & systems Software vendor currently utilized by the City of Fort Hart InterCivic Collins is Dominion. 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?