Redistricting in Colorado after the 2010 census

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Redistricting in Colorado

General information

Partisan control: Split

Process: Colorado Reapportionment Commission

Deadline: March 15, 2012

Total seats

Congress: 7

State Senate: 35

State House: 65

This article details the timeline of redistricting events in Colorado following the 2010 census. It also provides contextual information about the redistricting process and census information.

Process[edit]

See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures

Colorado employed two distinct processes for redistricting:^[1]

• Congressional redistricting: Under Article V, Section 44 of the Colorado Constitution, the Colorado General Assembly was responsible for Congressional redistricting.

• State legislative reapportionment: After the adoption of Colorado Amendment 6 in 1974, constitutional authority rested with the Reapportionment Commission.

With respect to redistricting, the Colorado Constitution provides authority to and outlines the duties of the Colorado Redistricting Commission in Section 48 of Article V. Composition of state House and Senate districts is dealt with in Sections 44, 45, 46, and 47.

Leadership[edit]

Congressional Redistricting Committee[edit]

Congressional maps were handled by a committee comprised of members of both chambers, who introduced bills to the entire body, which were then passed like regular Assembly bills.

Committee members[edit]

Representative David Balmer, an Arapahoe County Republican with several terms in the House, was named the head of the House's Redistricting Committee for 2011.^[2] After initial estimates of a hypothetical special session in the summer came in around $180,000, Balmer announced a plan to wrap up redistricting by the legislature's May 2011 sine die adjournment.^[3]

Also named early was Republican Rep. B.J. Nikkel, elected from Loveland, in Denver's outer ring of suburbs.^[4] On the Senate side, second-term Democrat Gail Schwartz, who represented one of the large rural swathes cutting through the state's southwest, was named.^[5] 2011 Committee membership was as follows:^[6]

Colorado Reapportionment Commission[edit]

The Colorado Reapportionment Commission was responsible for reapportioning state legislative districts.

This reapportionment commission was composed of 11 members, chosen by the following:

• 4 by the Colorado General Assembly
• 3 by the Governor
• 4 by the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice

Each branch had its own deadline to make its Commission appointments. The General Assembly was required to name its appointees by a certain date (April 15, 2011 in this round of redistricting). The appointees were split evenly between the state House and Senate, majority and minority parties, resulting in an 2:2 tie, regardless of the partisan makeup of the Assembly.

At that point, the Governor had ten days to name three additional members. Gubernatorial appointees could not belong to the legislature and could be of any political party, meaning nothing legally prevented the sitting governor from naming three members of his own party.

The final four commission members were appointed by the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court between April 25th and May 5th, 2011. The Chief Justice's appointments could have any political affiliation but could not come from the legislature. Since the Chief Justice appointed last, and with fewest restrictions, the Chief Justice played a significant role in determining the makeup of the commission, in addition to reserving the power of final review for both Congressional and state-level legislative district maps.^[7]

Of the seven appointees who were not elected officials, each Congressional District needed at least one representative; no District could have more than four of the appointees, and at least one appointee had to reside West of the Continental Divide.^[8]

The Governor of Colorado, which in 2010 was Democrat John Hickenlooper, had the ability to veto whatever map the legislature submitted to him.^[9] If the Assembly and the Governor could not arrive at a mutually satisfactory plan within the time span of the legislative session, set to adjourn May 11, 2011, then deliberations would continue into a special session during the summer.^[10]

Regarding House, Senate, and U.S. Congressional districts, Colorado's redistricting was more likely to follow enumeration districts than county boundaries. Enumeration districts were determined by the Census for purposes of gathering details about populations.

Commission members[edit]

In addition to the members, the Commission had three staff attorneys, Jeremiah Barry, who also served as Staff Director, Kate Meyer, Troy Bratton; and one dedicated Legislative Assistant, Amanda King. The membership of the commission itself came out to a 5-5-1 split between the Republicans, Democrats, and independents.^[11]

Named by House Speaker Frank McNulty (R) was former Representative Rob Witwer (R).^[12] Prior to serving in the House, Witwer had been then-Governor Owens' counsel following the 2000 Census. Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp (R) added attorney Mario Nicolais to the panel.

Democrats both named fellow lawmakers, with Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D) picking Morgan Carroll (D) and House Minority Leader Sal Pace (D) naming Matt Jones (D).^[13]

Governor Hickenlooper announced his nominees on the last possible day, April 25, 2011. His three choices were:^[14]

• Gayle A. Berry, a former Republican legislator representing Grand Junction, who worked as a lobbyist at the state Capitol

• Former Democratic Mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb, described in the Governor's press release as an elder statesman

• Alamosa Democrat Andrew Salazar, brother of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Hickenlooper cabinet appointee John Salazar

A former Democratic Senate majority Leader, Bill Theibaut, criticized the Governor, writing "While I am disappointed that the governor did not appoint three Democrats this year, I remain hopeful that the districts that are drawn will be sufficiently similar to the existing ones so that Democrats can compete for the majority in each House."^[15]

Lastly, the Colorado Supreme Court, with Michael Bender as Chief Justice, named the following:

• Denver lawyer Dolores Atencio, a Democrat

• Businessman Mario Carrera, an unaffiliated voter from the south Denver suburb of Parker

• Political scientist Robert Loevy, a Colorado Springs Republican

• Steve Tool, a former Republican Representative from Windsor

Census results[edit]

Preliminary data showed Colorado gained 16.9% new residents from April 2000 to April 2010, bringing the state's population to 5,029,196. This made Colorado 9th overall in population growth from 2000 to 2010. Overall, that translated into a gain in nationwide rankings for population size, from 24th to 22nd.^[16]

Census Bureau data showed that, as of April 2010, Hispanics represented 20% of Coloradans. 80% of the entire population lived along the I-25 corridor, the state's main north-south highway. Such urbanization meant the 3rd and 4th seats, massive rural districts, could become larger to balance the population of Congressional seats.^[17] The 4th congressional district was overpopulated, and looked to lose heavily populated land while picking up sparser areas.^[18]

Data for where the state's seats were to be redistributed were as follows:^[19]

Noteworthy events[edit]

Public feedback[edit]

Public meetings around the state began on the last weekend in February. A total of 10 were scheduled. Meetings were held in:

• Loveland
• Fort Morgan
• Denver^[20]
• Golden^[21]
• Colorado Springs^[22][23][24]

Republican redistricting bill[edit]

On Friday, March 4, 2011, state House Republicans filed their first redistricting bill with a co-sponsor in the Senate, a bill that sought to bar lawmakers from considering any non-neutral factors in redistricting and to treat the 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts as communities of interest. The former criteria would make it illegal for politicians to consider such factors as partisan registration in drawing boundaries; the latter would effectively make the massive spans of land that constituted Colorado's two overwhelmingly rural districts off-limits for many redistricting scenarios.^[25]

In descending order of priority, the suggested criteria under the bill were:^[26]

The specifics of HB 1276, introduced by Rep. J. Paul Brown (R) and Sen. Ellen Roberts (R), meant it only applied if redistricting went to the courts, an eventuality that looked likely in 2011. Republicans, backed by the Club for Growth, said the bill only rolled back what Democrats, then the majority party in the House, did at the end of the 2010 session. The Democratically sponsored bill referenced was one that ended the practice of treating the 3rd and 4th Congressional seats as communities of interest, and one Democrats maintain was needed to undo improper Republican-sponsored legislation.^[27] The bill drew opposition from both the Republican-aligned Western Slope Club for Growth and the Democratic-aligned League of Women Voters.

One Pueblo Democrat, Sal Pace, said that the bill, if successful, would set up rules making six of the state's seven U.S. House seats into easily winnable Republican districts.^[28] He countered the stated intent of HB 1276's sponsors, saying that by making sure rural areas are kept intact, the bill also kept large urban areas in single districts, something Pace said would increase the power of urban voters and reducing the influence of rural territories. Pace, along with other Democrats, faulted House Speaker Frank McNulty (R) for allowing the introduction of a redistricting bill at what was a relatively late point in the session for such an action.^[29] Speaker McNulty had to sign off to allow HB 1276 to be introduced as a 'delayed bill'.^[30]

Delayed redistricting bill[edit]

The House leaders delayed release of a map ready for public inspection. The release was initially scheduled for the week of April 11, 2011. The delay was due to the inavailability of 2010 election data.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler office said there was no intentional delay, but that pulling together the full election abstract was taking longer than anticipated, while also reminding lawmakers the secretary's office had until June 30, 2011 to provide the data set. On Saturday, April 2, 2011, the Secretary's office did deliver the data to the committee.^[31]

As of mid-April, the House was pushing its expected date to release a map back, from April 14, 2011 to April 24, 2011.

Congressional redistricting[edit]

Figure 5: One of the proposed Republican maps for Colorado's Congressional districts beginning in 2012. This first version of David Balmer's map pays particular attention to his Arapahoe County seat.

Figure 6: One of the proposed Republican maps for Colorado's Congressional districts beginning in 2012. Republican Plan A largely reflects Frank McNulty's input.

April 14, 2020: Initial maps[edit]

The two major parties exchanged drafts of several maps at April's halfway point, with a hearing set for the afternoon of Friday, April 15th. Legislators were still hoping to have something done before sine die on May 11, 2011. Democratic maps were not all in, as the Democrats used a software incompatible with that of the General Assembly and were unable to upload the images.^[32]

Figure 4: One of the proposed Democratic maps for Colorado's Congressional districts beginning in 2012. 'City Integrity 1' was, according to Sen. Rollie Heath, (D), the cleanest map.

Figure 7: This overlay compares the Democrats' City Integrity plan with the Republican proposal. Highlighted counties are those where the two parties agreed.

At the start of 2011, Colorado's seven seats consisted of the capital city of Denver, four seats breaking up the metropolitan areas and the more densely populated mountain counties, and two large rural tracts.

Republicans made minimal changes to the district maps. The Democratic proposal included changes such as drawing all seven districts with some portion of the seven-county Front Range, the demographically dense areas surrounding Denver.

In setting up hybrid rural and urban seats, Democrats would have broken up the Democratic-leaning 2nd District, removing some of its large mountain resort towns and thus allowing the seat to pick up the state's entire northwest span. Speaking of Democratic priorities, Heath listed keeping counties intact and following the I-70 corridor. Specific regional interest also included ensuring that Longmont and Boulder as well as Pueblo and Colorado Springs were separate and making sure Chaffee County was grouped with a mountain district.

While Dems produced maps that achieved that, and while the Democratic-leaning tilt of Boulder and Pueblo explains why they wanted to be apart, respectively, from Longmont and Colorado Springs, there were other combinations that Republicans criticized.

The Boulder-based 2nd, by spreading all the way to the Utah border, would include Republican-leaning Grand Junction. Douglas and El Paso, a pair of Republican-leaning counties south of Denver, would be broken apart. And, in the immediate Denver suburbs, the Republican-leaning southern suburbs would be bisected, with parts being attached to Denver-proper and to the Democratic-leaning Adams County.^[33]

April 19, 2020: Second set of maps[edit]

At a hearing on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, the ten members of the Commission agreed to draw a new map jointly.^[34] Democrats advocated for considering competitiveness as a factor, while Republicans said this was not a legal requirement and therefore should not be considered.^[35]

April 28, 2011: Congressional maps after the Committee[edit]

On Thursday, April 28, 2011, Rollie Heath proposed SB11-268, which was the first actual map to be introduced to the legislature.^[36] Numbers based on the 2010 election rolls and provided by the Legislative Council for the reconfigured rural 3rd and 4th seats were given as 27.76% D, 38.46% R, and 33.55% other in the 4th; and as 30.98%, 41.70%, and 26.66%, respectively, in the 3rd.^[37] The map was eventually pulled.^[38]

Republicans followed with their own map on May 3, 2011.^[39][40] Their map kept El Paso and Douglas Counties intact and in the same seat, put most of Aurora in the 6th - a possible concession, and kept Longmont in the 4th.

The next day, Democrats released a new map of their own, one that differed significantly from their first set of plans. El Paso was kept intact and the 5th District retained all of its military bases.^[41] Republicans drew issue with the new map redrawing the Democratic-leaning Boulder-based 2nd to curve south around Denver and include Douglas County, a Republican-leaning county.^[42]

Neither map was approved by the legislature, indicating the likelihood for judicially decided redistricting.^[43][44]

Legislative maps[edit]

For 2011, legislative districts needed to hit population targets of 142,691 and 77,372 for the Senate and House, respectively.^[45] The 11 members of the Reapportionment Commission began working in May 2011, with public hearings set for June. Preliminary maps were due by September 5th and needed to be ready for Supreme Court review by October 7th with a final deadline of December 14th. Commission members warned Coloradans not to expect anything earlier than the deadline, meaning only 19 working days would remain between the map's finalization and its first use, in the 2012 caucuses.^[46] As a first step, the Commission broke Colorado into six regions to form the basis of legislative districts.^[47]

Most, least populated legislative districts[edit]

The most and least populated districts were as follows. Overpopulated districts had to shed territory, and thus population, to underpopulated districts.^[48]

July 2011: Commission adopted plan for Fort Collins[edit]

The Reapportionment Commission voted 6-5 to adopt new district lines for Fort Collins. The plan, proposed by state Democrats, gave Fort Collins two additional house districts. The five Republican members of the commission strongly opposed the plan. In particular, Republicans took exception to the splitting of municipalities.^[49]

July 2011: Commission approved preliminary maps[edit]

In order to draft the state's new legislative maps, the Colorado Reapportionment Commission divided the state into seven regions, adopting plans for each region separately. On July 18, the commission adopted plans for the last region, completing the process of selecting preliminary maps.

Some Democrats, like former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, criticized the plans and Republican commissioners. Webb argued that Republicans abused the goals of political competitiveness and minority districts by selectively applying these standards. Under the House plan, Democrats could have seen several presently-Democratic districts weakened, including Districts 3, 11, 26, and 50. However, Commissioner Matt Jones (D) argued that the maps represented a consensus on the commission, with each chamber's plan receiving some degree of bipartisan support.^[50]

August 2011: Public input[edit]

On August 4, 2011, the Colorado Reapportionment Commission held the first public hearing to gather input on the process. The Commission went to 20 total cities to hear from citizens.^[51]

September 2011: Carrera's proposed map[edit]

This map shows the final plan for state Senate districts approved by the Commission

After reviewing maps proposed by Republicans and Democrats, Commission Chairman Mario Carrera, the only unaffiliated member, announced on September 12 that he would submit his own maps. Criticizing how the other proposals divided up Arapahoe and Jefferson counties, he said, "I am working feverishly to make sure that we have a map that can be a consolidation of both Republican and Democratic considerations."^[52]

Carrera submitted his maps on September 14, explaining that they would make 11 Senate seats and 22 House seats competitive, of those 33, 17 would be highly competitive. Additionally, under his proposal 24 of the 100 legislative districts would have at least 30 percent Hispanic voters.^[53]

This map shows the final plan for state House districts approved by the Commission

On September 19 the Commission voted to pass Carrera's maps of state legislative districts. Democrats unanimously passed both maps, while two Republicans voted against the Senate map and three voted against the House map. The Colorado Supreme Court heard arguments on the newly proposed districts on November 9. Finalized maps were to be submitted by December 14.^[54]

November 2011: Rejected by the court[edit]

The Colorado Supreme Court rejected the new House and Senate maps on November 15 by a vote of 4-2, stating they were not sufficiently attentive to county boundaries. The maps then went back to the Reapportionment Commission who had to resubmit new maps by December 6.^[55]

December 2011: New plans approved[edit]

The redistricting panel resumed efforts on November 28 to rework the new legislative maps.^[56] The following day the commission voted to approve Democratic-drawn proposals for new House and Senate districts.

On December 12, the state Supreme Court approved the Democratic-drawn maps, which Republicans criticized for pairing Republican incumbents. Under the new maps, there were seven instances where Republican incumbents were drawn into the same district. Most notably among these were House Majority Leader Amy Stephens and Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman. Democrats pointed out that incumbents in their party would also have to potentially face one another in 2012, but that only occurred in three instances.^[57]

A total of 38 out of the 100 legislative seats were considered to be competitive, with 24 in the House and 14 in the Senate.^[58] 60 seats were considered to be safe - 35 for Republicans and 25 for Democrats.^[59]

Legal issues[edit]

May 2011: Republicans and Democrats filed lawsuits

Both major parties filed suit as the legislative session came to an end. In each case, an attorney and a group of plaintiffs representing each party in the state's seven Congressional districts filed the case. Mark Grueskin, a Denver based attorney, filed the Democratic case.^[60] Ryan Westfall filed the Republican case.^[61]

The Colorado Hispanic Bar Association and the Colorado Latino Forum joined the lawsuit, saying they wanted to be able to review the proposed maps to see if they diluted the Hispanic vote prior to releasing their own proposals. Attorney for the Democrats Mark Grueskin opposed the motion, saying all groups should have to release proposed maps on the same date.^[62]

Judge Hood had the power either to consider maps that failed to clear the legislature or to order that new ones be drawn.^[63]

June 2011: Lawsuits consolidated and date set

Both redistricting cases were consolidated under Denver District Court Judge Robert Hyatt. At the beginning of June, Hyatt set a trial date of Monday, October 17, 2011.^[64] Secretary of State Scott Gessler was named in both lawsuits. Deputy Attorney General Maurice Knaizer represented him.^[65]

August 2011: Deadline for lawsuit maps set

As the redistricting lawsuit moved forward, Judge Robert Hyatt ordered both major parties to submit their redistricting proposals by August 22. Groups that joined the lawsuit later had until September 2. The trial was set for October 17, 2011.^[66][67]

August 2011: Parties released maps

Democrats and Republicans both filed their plans for new congressional maps in court on August 22. Republicans stressed continuity, saying their map made the least amount of changes possible. The Democrats’ proposal, on the other hand, pushed for competitive districts, sometimes even to the detriment of Democratic incumbents.^[68]

September 2011: Other redistricting plans

The Latino Forum and Colorado Hispanic Bar Association submitted a proposal on September 2, the deadline for groups that joined the suit. Their map took the San Luis Valley and Pueblo areas from the 4th Congressional District and put Larimer County into the Boulder district.^[69] Additionally, Denver and Adams County cities would have constituted a district.^[70]

Pueblo County District Attorney Bill Thiebaut submitted two maps - both put Pueblo with the Western Slope, while one divided Denver into three districts and the other kept the current boundaries.

October 2011: Trial began

Arguments in the case began in Denver District Court on October 11. Republicans said that Democrats were attempting to move 1.5 million voters into new districts to pick up additional congressional seats, while Democrats said the makeup of the state significantly changed since district lines were drawn ten years previously. The court considered a half dozen maps.^[71]

Western Slope group Club 20, with the support of Progressive 15 and Action 22, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. Club 20 submitted a map that focused on the preservation of rural communities of interest in Western, Northern and Southern Colorado.^[72]

Several members of Colorado's congressional delegation testified in the trial, including Democrats Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis and Republican Scott Tipton.^[73][74]

October 2011: Closing arguments

This map shows the plan for Congressional districts approved by the court

Attorneys delivered their closing remarks in the case on October 31.^[75] Attorney Gina Rodriguez, representing the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association and the Colorado Latino Forum, said maps from both Republicans and Democrats as fostered partisan interests and failed to take Hispanic communities of interest into account.^[76]

Democratic lawyer Mark Grueskin asked the judge to dismiss the map presented by the Latino groups for being race-based and, thus, unconstitutional. Republican lawyer Richard Westfall criticized the Democratic map for joining communities based on current issues while ignoring historical links between communities.^[77]

November 2011: Democratic map approved

In a ruling issued November 10, Judge Hyatt decided in favor of the Moreno/South Democratic map, stating it "most accurately reflected and preserved current communities of interest in 2011."^[78]

Hyatt went on to say "the Moreno approach to redistricting Colorado will also produce the maximum amount of competition of any of the realistically proffered maps in at least three districts — the 3rd, the 6th and the 7th" and "not only does the Moreno mapping approach reflect Colorado's current communities of interest, it holds the real possibility that voters will be as engaged in the electoral process as possible."^[78]

November 2011: Republicans filed an appeal

Republicans appealed the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court on November 16, the day after the Court rejected the newly drawn state legislative maps.^[79]

The court heard arguments on December 1.^[80]

December 2011: Map upheld

On December 5, the state Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling, dismissing the argument that the map divided too many counties into multiple districts. This effectively upheld the Democrats' map.^[81] The court said a written opinion would be issued at a later date.

The new map put Aurora into its own congressional district, split Douglas County and added Larimer County to the Boulder district. As a result, Colorado was expected to have at least three competitive races in 2012.^[82]

Reform legislation[edit]

May 2011: Independent Commission legislation[edit]

Thorton Democratic Representative Edward Casso announced on May 20, 2011 that he would sponsor legislation in 2012 to turn Congressional redistricting over to an independent commission. If successful, his legislation would be referred to the General Election Ballot in 2012.^[83]

Timeline[edit]

Ahead of the General Assembly that convened in 2011, the state legislature announced a ten-member Joint Select Committee, equally comprised of legislators from both major parties, to tour the state and gather feedback from citizens on Congressional redistricting. Colorado's House Speaker, Frank McNulty, (R), and Senate President, Brandon Shaffer, (D) were each charged with naming three members; the Minority Leaders of each Chamber named two designees, each.^[84] An initial deadline of April 14, 2011 was set for the Committee to report back to the legislature.^[85]

After the 2000 process, when Colorado gained a seventh Congressional seat, the redistricting process was litigated in court until 2003, when a State Supreme Court decision upheld a map drawn by the courts.

The decision to have a commission was meant to prevent a recurrence of this problem. It was left to the commission's discretion to recommend specific new districts or to file a report on voter preferences.^[86] Additionally, a 2010 state legislative decision expanded the judicial branch's discretion in playing its role in redistricting.^[87]

The commission met with praise from both sides of the aisle at Colorado's State Capitol and representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties agreed to serve as co-chair for the project. Under the U.S. Census Bureau's plan to deliver state level data, Colorado was not scheduled to receive information until late February or March of 2011, meaning the commission's early schedule focused on listening trips around the state.^[88]

Rural states like Colorado saw the issue of drawing large districts to account for sparsely populated stretches of land. One such case in Colorado was the 3rd District, a 55,000 square mile behemoth that covers the Western half of the states. That district's failure to grow as rapidly as the rest of the states meant the 2011 process would involve shifting land into the 3rd.^[89]

Detailed Census results did confirm the 3rd needed to gain over 12,000 residents to be balanced again. The first redistricting meeting to be held after the Census Bureau delivered that data was in Loveland, a city that could easily fall into the 2nd or the 3rd Congressional seat after 2011's work is done.^[90] Those same results confirmed that El Paso County, anchored by the city of Colorado Springs and the heart of the conservative 5th Congressional District, had surpassed the City and County of Denver as the largest of Colorado's 64 counties.^[91][92]

Partisan Registration by District[edit]

Figure 1: This map shows the Colorado Congressional Districts after the 2000 census.

History[edit]

Figure 2: This map shows the Colorado House Districts after the 2000 census.

Figure 3: This map shows the Colorado Senate Districts after the 2000 census.

2000 Census and Legal Battle[edit]

The court battles that resulted from the 2000 Census began when a Republican-controlled House and Democratic Senate did not agree on a redistricting map. At the end of the first round, a District Court Judge in Denver decided legislators had not done their job and, in 2002, drew his own map.

Republicans held the House and gained the Senate in 2002. With bicameral control of the General Assembly, in 2003 they rejected the Judge's plan and drew their own map, saying the state Constitution gave the legislature sole authority to draw redistricting maps.^[93] Democrats built their legal appeal around the fact that Republicans had arguably redistricted twice in one decade.^[94]

At that point, the matter went to the courts (Lance v. Dennis, 05-555), who upheld the Judge's map (In Re Reapportionment of Colorado General Assembly, 45 P. 3rd 1237 (2002) and 46 P. 3rd 1083 (2002) ).^[95][96] The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.^[97]

Deviation from Ideal Districts[edit]

Lawsuits related to the 2000 Census[edit]

• Avalos v. Davidson, No. 01 CV 2897 (Dist. Ct. Denver Co. Jan. 25, 2002), aff’d sub nom. Beauprez v. Avalos, No. 02SC87, 42 P.3d 642 (Colo. Mar. 13, 2002) (en banc) : filed when the Colorado Legislature adjourned since die in 2001 without completing redistricting, arguing waiting until the 2002 Assembly would leave inadequate time and asking the Courts to take over the process

• Martinez v. Matsunaka, No. 01-Z-1900 (D. Colo., amended complaint filed Oct. 12, 2001) : amended the named defendant from the Secretary of State to the Governor and the General Assembly

• In re Reapportionment of the Colorado General Assembly, No. 01SA386 (Colo. Jan. 28, 2002) : in which the Colorado Supreme Court rejected the Colorado Reapportionment Commission's plan for state Senate seats, on the grounds on insufficient attention paid to existing county boundaries

• In re Reapportionment of the Colorado General Assembly, No. 01SA386, 45 P.3d 1237 (Colo. Feb. 22, 2002) : the resubmitted and approved map

• Keller v. Davidson, No. 03 CV 3452 (Denver District Court filed May 9, 2003) : in which plaintiffs sued over the legislature's May 29, 2003 decision to draw new Congressional boundaries

• People ex rel. Salazar v. Davidson, No. 03SA133 and Davidson v. Salazar, No. 03SA147, 79 P.3d 1221 (Colo. Dec. 1. 2003) (en banc), cert. denied, Colorado General Assembly v. Salazar, No. 03-1082, 541 U.S. 1093 (June 7, 2004) : in which the Attorney General sued the Secretary of State to block enforcement of the SB-352 map

• Keller v. Davidson, No. 03-Z-1482 (CBS) (D. Colo. Sept. 25, 2003) : in which a Federal district court deferred proceedings pending the outcome of Salazar

• Keller v. Davidson, No. 03-Z-1482 (CBS), 299 F. Supp. 2d 1171 (D. Colo. Jan. 23, 2004) : in which the Colorado Supreme Court found that the General Assembly violated Article I, § 4 of the U.S. Constitution in taking up redistricting again after a Court had ruled on a map.

• Colorado General Assembly v. Salazar, No. 03-1082, 541 U.S. 1093 (June 7, 2004) : in which the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant acertiori in Salazar

• Keller v. Davidson, No. 03-Z-1482 (CBS), 2004 WL 2359556 (D. Colo. Oct. 15, 2004) : in which the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Keller

• Lance v. Davidson, 379 F. Supp.2d 1117 (D. Colo. July 27, 2005), vacated and remanded Lance v. Dennis, No. 05-555, 546 U.S. 459 (U.S. Feb. 21, 2006) : in which three plaintiffs sued the Secretary of State, alleging the General Assembly had been denied its obligation to redistrict, a complaint under the Elections Clause dismissed via the Rooker-Feldman doctrine; and that their right to a redress of grievances had been denied, dismissed when the court found the plaintiffs where in privity with the General Assembly

• Lance v. Dennis, No. 05-555, 546 U.S. 459 (U.S. Feb. 21, 2006) (per curiam) : in which the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower court's decision

• Lance v. Dennis, 444 F. Supp. 2d, 1149 (2006) : in which the district court found the plantiffs were barred by issue preclusion in Salazar

• Lance v. Coffman, No. 06-641 (U.S. Mar. 5, 2007) (per curiam) : in which the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the Petitions Clause claim

Ballot measures[edit]

The following measures have appeared on the Colorado ballot pertaining to redistricting.

• Colorado Legislative Reapportionment, Issue 4 (1956) d
• Colorado State Legislative Redistricting, Amendment 5 (1954) d

See also[edit]

• State Legislative and Congressional Redistricting after the 2010 Census
• State-by-state redistricting procedures

External links[edit]

• Colorado Reapportionment Commission
• Detailed 2010 U.S. Census data for Colorado
• Colorado Public Radio April 29, 2011 program on redistricting
• State Senator Steve King's May 6, 2011 editorial for the Grand Junction Free Press
• Common Cause Colorado's May 2011 op-ed
• PolicyWonk's timelapse video of shifting racial demographics in Colorado
• Colorado State Government, "A Citizen’s Guide to State House and Senate Redistricting"

Footnotes[edit]

v • e Redistricting after the 2010 census State-by-state Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming Overviews State legislative and congressional redistricting • State legislative redistricting maps • Redistricting deadlines • Redistricting timelines • Status of redistricting maps • Redistricting lawsuits • Partisan balance of redistricting committees

v • e Election policy Voting policy Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming Ballot access for state and federal candidates Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming Ballot access for political parties Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming Ballot access for presidential candidates Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming Redistricting Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming