ALAMOSA — Water. Agriculture and fair representation of Hispanic voters and residents. Two-plus hours of testimony suggested that those were the priorities for voting districts held by residents of the San Luis Valley during Friday night’s public hearing on voter redistricting.

The panel of 15 commissioners from the non-partisan Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions  (CIRC) – all appointed by a rigorous selection process designed to provide qualified and equal representation among Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated/Independents – sat before a standing-room-only crowd comprised of residents from all over the San Luis Valley to hear reactions, suggestions and other feedback on the preliminary maps (emphasis on preliminary) that will ultimately determine new voting districts in the State of Colorado. 

Jason Kelly, attorney for the County of Alamosa and a commissioner appointed to the Congressional redistricting commission, facilitated the discussion, which set a time limit of three minutes for any person who wanted to testify, not counting follow-up questions from the commissioners.

A video played beforehand helped to set the context for the discussion by laying out the primary factors that must, by law, determine how district lines are drawn: shared interests in a community, geographic boundaries that were natural and followed existing county lines, political competitiveness and equal population numbers are key considerations.

Simple and straightforward as those requirements are, meeting all of them in a way that will please people is no easy task. As Alamosa’s GIS Analyst Deacon Aspinwall joked to the commissioners in his opening statement, “You aren’t going to make anybody happy.”

Once the hearing was opened for testimony, it went on for more than two hours as roughly two dozen people from varying backgrounds and with a diversity of perspectives voiced opinions that were clearly informed, respectful, well thought out and articulate. Whether it was a current state senator, a farmer, the president of the Land Grant Council in San Luis, a teacher, a former councilman from Monte Vista, a current councilman from Alamosa as well as the mayor or an individual who helped to craft the Colorado Water Plan, the thoughts and reactions that were expressed reflected the seriousness with which everyone in the room regarded the process and, essentially, what is at stake.

A great deal of information was shared during the public hearing, including a Congressional redistricting map that has not yet been made public but seems to hold a great deal of promise. All of that, as well as more on individual testimonies and commissioner reactions, will be covered in more depth next week in the Valley Courier.