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SALT LAKE CITY -- The politically charged issue of redrawing district boundaries is coming to a head, but there is one group that says it has a proposal that takes the politics out of the process.
This group earlier pushed a petition for an independent commission for redistricting. That effort failed, so now they are pushing for a last minute appeal to make redistricting as fair and non-partisan as possible.
The Fair Boundaries group unveiled a series of maps at this news conference today. Those maps reflect school district, State House and Senate and Congressional districts that are not 'gerrymandered' in this group's view.
That is, they are drawn without regard to political party considerations on either side, the group says. What the maps do take into consideration is the population in each district, how big it is, and keeping communities of interest together.
They're fair, they're without regard to political party, without regard to incumbency, any of that," said Maryann Martindale with Alliance for a Better Utah, "So these maps we feel are exactly in line with what the public has requested."
There are two basic alternatives. ‘Pizza slice' maps refer to splitting districts up so that rural and urban districts are together. Another alternative would be the 'donut', which would keep urban and rural districts separate.
"Certainly on the congressional maps, they seem to be more interested in pizza slice. But if you listen to their public statements, they also seem to be interested in incumbent protection,"said Glenn Wright, who works with Fair Boundaries.
Sen. Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, a co-chair of the redistricting committee, said the congressional maps are still not done, and that public input, including these maps, will be part of the process.
The committee is hoping to wrap up all the work on their maps in the next few weeks. The Governor has called a special session in October to finalize them once and for all.
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Email: [rpiatt@ksl.com](<mailto: rpiatt@ksl.com>)
