SALT LAKE CITY -- Now that the Census figures are out, the once-a-decade redistricting process begins in earnest in Utah.

It will be different this time, with a Utah legislative committee and the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission each drawing a set of maps defining political districts across the state.

Census data show Utah's 18% population gain made it the fastest-growing state in the last decade, and its population makeup shifted moderately toward Blacks, Latinos and other ethnic groups.

Gordon Haight, executive director of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission, said his panel is designed to give the public a voice in the process.

"The Commission has taken the responsibility of making sure that these are the people's maps," Haight stated. "Our biggest activity is going out and talking to the public. We've been meeting with mayors, we've been meeting with the public, we've been going to the farmers' market, every kind of activity we can in order to get public input."

The commission was created in 2018 by ballot proposition to replace the Legislature's role in the process. However, members of the Legislature used a clause in the state Constitution to replace the results with a compromise to allow both groups to draw maps, and to give the Legislature the final say.

Republicans hold a 15-to-5 majority on the legislative committee, while members of the independent panel were chosen by a bipartisan group of state leaders. Haight said while his panel will retain experts to draw their final maps, they'll post software online so citizens or groups can draw and submit their own suggestion for districts.

"We have a mapping tool that allows people to go online and actually draw maps for the entire state," Haight explained. "Sometimes it can be a little intimidating, so we also have a software program that just allows you to draw your communities."

The Legislative Redistricting Committee plans hearings across the state starting in September to take public comments. Haight added the independent commission has also scheduled public meetings to take comments over the next four weeks.

"We believe that we'll have our first set of maps done by the end of next week, so we can start taking them around to our public hearings, starting on [September] the 3rd," Haight outlined.

The redistricting process, which normally takes several months, was compressed down to a few weeks due to COVID pandemic delays. The maps must be completed by December to be used in the 2022 midterm elections.

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would place limits on Supreme Court justices in the wake of several of the court's decisions.

The Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization or TERM Act would subject justices to 18-year term limits, after which they would be retired.

The bill comes at a time when confidence in the Supreme Court fell to 25% in June, according to a Gallup poll. This is down from 36% at the same time in 2021.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson - D-Lithonia - introduced the bill and said he feels this could keep the court relevant with the American state of mind.

"Our Supreme Court is not accountable to the people in its present configuration," said Johnson. "And so therefore, term limits will help to infuse modern thinking and keep the United States Supreme Court a modern branch of our democracy."

Should Congress approve the bill, five of the current justices would be retired from the court in throughout the next six years. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas would automatically be retired since he's been on the court for 31 years.

Another element of the bill calls for the most recently retired justice to temporarily serve on the court, should there be less than nine justices.

This is not the first time Johnson has introduced a bill to change the court's layout. In 2021, Johnson introduced the Judiciary Act of 2021, which would have expanded the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13.

Currently, the bill is being referred to a House subcommittee. Johnson said he feels even if this bill were to pass, there is an additional challenge in keeping the court up to date - lifetime tenure.

"We still get into this issue of lifetime tenure of justices who become stale in their thinking," said Johnson, "and more, and more unaccountable to the public, the older that they get."

Johnson said he feels if these bills pass, they will not only diversify the Supreme Court's thinking, but its physical look too.

Part of the hope behind the Judiciary Act of 2021 was to make the court more representative of the country through adding new justices of varying sex, age, ethnicity and legal background.

Currently, said he feels there are too many justices who got their starts in "silk-stocking" law firms.




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The midterm elections are less than three months away, and in Iowa, recruiting continues for those interested in helping at polling sites, where the state's top elections official said they need a deep bench.

Paul Pate, Iowa Secretary of State, said in order to carry out a smooth election, the state aims for a roster of 10,000 polling workers, but added some padding is needed. He explained while there are no critical shortages at the moment, they have to have contingency plans.

"Someone might be sick, or if you have some other situation come up," Pate noted. "They are looking for more people to have [as] a fallback position."

He pointed out in some counties they need more of an even balance of party representation among those helping out. Nationwide, concerns have emerged in the past couple of years about poll-worker shortages due to the pandemic, or older workers deciding not to continue without enough younger populations to take their role.

In becoming a poll worker, you receive training as well as a stipend for working. Pate stressed poll workers are the unsung heroes in carrying out elections, adding they are often your friends and neighbors. He hopes it will help to quell growing misinformation surrounding election integrity.

"There's still people out there who push a false narrative, if you will, and poll workers actually serve as a great educational resource because of their training and their being on the job," Pate stated. "When they're out in their own communities, they can speak to the integrity factor, and it really helps."

He emphasized Iowa typically ranks highly in running elections, along with having strong voter turnout. The state has roughly 1,700 voting precincts.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

By Andrew Kuder / Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Sam Lawrence is running for an Ohio Statehouse seat at 19 years old.

"I've always been one of the kids who watched the news, and I knew what was going on, not to the full extent of, kind of obviously, what I'm involved with now," said Lawrence. "[It was] probably right before high school or early in high school when I really found kind of this interest in the politics of it all, not just in the campaigning, but also in the public service aspect once someone is elected."

Lawrence, a political science major running as a Democrat in Ohio's 47th district, hopes his campaign will inspire other Ohioans his age to get more involved in politics.

"That's one of the reasons I decided to run," said Lawrence. "To inspire other young people, maybe to run themselves, but more importantly, to get involved."

In recent years, younger age groups have shown up to the polls in increasing numbers, with college students having record turnout; 66%, according to CIRCLE, a Tufts University research center focused on youth voting in the 2020 presidential election.

In Ohio, however, only 59.2% of residents ages 18-24 were registered to vote in 2020 and 51.8% actually voted, according to data from the U.S. Census. In comparison, 69.5% of voters ages 25-34 were registered to vote, along with 73.3% of the 35-44 age range, 78.8% of the 45-64 age range, and 84% of citizens aged 65 and older.

By running for the Ohio House, Lawrence hopes to remedy one of the largest deterrents from Gen Z participating in elections: a lack of representation from people in their age group. "The vast majority of our elected officials are above the age of the median population by a significant amount of years," he said. "There is such a large chunk of the population that is not being represented at all."

However, even when young people want to go out to vote, there may be outside factors that make it harder to do so. For example, COVID-19 made registering to vote more difficult for many, since they weren't able to do it in person.

"For a lot of people, including young people, there was confusion over the elections that took place during the pandemic," said Iris Meltzer, President of Ohio's League of Women Voters. "There's a whole slice of a couple of years' worth of high school and college students that did not have the opportunities usually afforded them to register to vote."

The pandemic also increased the demand for absentee voting, which was not widely available in some states. In Ohio, all citizens could register for absentee voting, but it required sending an application by mail, then filling out a ballot and returning it by mail.

"In 2020 we found that youth voter turnout was much higher (57%) in states that automatically mailed absentee ballots to registered voters than in states where people needed an excuse to vote absentee (42%)," said Alberto Medina, Communications Team Lead at CIRCLE, via email.

In addition, some younger voters simply have a difficult time making a decision about who they want to vote for.

"As adults, we assume that it's very easy, and of course you can figure out who you want to vote for, and it isn't that easy," said Meltzer. The League of Women Voters often visits high schools and colleges to help with voter registration.

"Interest in voting isn't some innate quality, it must be taught and nurtured by creating a culture in which youth can develop their voice," added Medina.

Adding to the confusion is changes in the election dates. Because Ohio's electoral maps were held up in court due to a lawsuit over redistricting, the state held a second round of primaries on Aug. 2, covering races and issues that didn't make it to the March primary ballot. Lawrence believes this had an impact on how many people voted during the second round.

"That's why voter engagement here in Butler County was at 6%, because nobody knew that there was an election," he said. "So again, that's the problem that you have with the ruling majority in this state."

Although these issues deter young voters, recent events like the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade have the chance to inspire them to come to the polls in larger numbers. In the August primary, for example, Kansas voted to protect abortion rights in the state by a 58.9% majority, despite being a primarily red state.

"We have a supermajority in the Ohio Statehouse of people who are wanting to take away women's rights and that healthcare decision," said Lawrence, referring to Republicans in Ohio's state Legislature. "So that's what I'm running on, to protect that, and that's what so many on our side are running on, because it's so important."



This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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