REDISTRICTING:
(STATEWIDE)- Neal and Julie join Atty. Bryan Smith, who represents Brandon Durst in the Idaho redistricting lawsuit. They discuss the redrawing of Idaho’s 35 district lines. Formerly, according the Idaho Constitution each county was it’s own legislative district, but federal rules changed in the 1970’s to make districts approximately the same size to promote more proportional representation. Smith said that the current redistricting map has more lines drawn than necessary, which gerrymanders districts and puts conservative representatives at risk of being eliminated. Smith calls the map “an incumbency protection map” and says that those on the committee didn’t follow the rules in drawing the map. The districts are supposed to be based on the census every 10 years. Smith says “the map draws itself” if the rules set forth by the Idaho State Constitution are followed.