[nfbwatlk] A perfect 10! WA awarded new congressional seat, Washington Office of the Secretary of State Blog, December 21 2010

[Leslie Fitzpatrick]

Thanks for posting that Noel  I have been very curious about the census. Les
Fitzpatrick

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Nightingale, Noel
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 2:43 PM
To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfbwatlk] A perfect 10! WA awarded new congressional seat,
Washington Office of the Secretary of State Blog, December 21 2010

Not specifically blindness-related, but a matter that will undoubtedly be of
some significance on advocacy efforts in the future.

Link:
http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2010/12/a-perfect-10-wa-awar
ded-new-congressional-seat/

Text:
A perfect 10! WA awarded new congressional seat by David Ammons | December
21st, 2010

Map courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau

Celebration time! Washington's population grew by over 14 percent in the
past decade and will gain a new congressional seat.

Washington's former governor, Gary Locke, now President Obama's commerce
secretary, presided over a nationally televised press conference to release
the 23rd Census since the founding of the republic.

Relative to the rest of the nation, Washington grew enough in the past 10
years to nab a 10th congressional district.  Our latest population number:
6,724,540 million people. The population growth in the West also was very
strong, up 13.8 percent, with the region passing by the Midwest in terms of
population.  The U.S. average growth was 9.7 percent, and we're now 308.7
million people. Census officials said 60 percent of the growth nationally
was new babies and 40 percent was due to immigration.

As had been projected from preliminary estimates, Washington will gain a
10th district starting with the 2012 elections, most likely to be added in
the rapidly growing greater Puget Sound region.  All of the current
districts will be changed significantly.

The idea population will be 672,454 people per congressional district; the
ideal new legislative district will be 137,235.

Election officials at the state Capitol watched the Census news conference
and erupted in cheers as the map flashed on the screen showing that
Washington is one of a handful of states to pick up one or more seats.
Several states also lost one or more seats.

Secretary of State Sam Reed said he was delighted with the news of a new
seat:

"We couldn't be happier. This is a great day for the people of Washington.
We gain in clout, with another strong voice in Congress to be added in 2012.
We gain an Electoral College vote and our population gain means we get a
little larger slice of the pie as federal grants are apportioned out based
on population."

The actual work of divvying up the state in equal-sized congressional
districts and legislative districts will be the task of a bipartisan citizen
commission.  Four voting citizen members - two Republicans and two Democrats
- will be appointed by the legislative caucus leaders, and the four will
choose a fifth, nonvoting, person to be chairman. The panel will have all of
2011 to develop and finalize the maps, and three of the four voting members
must vote for the final product.  The Legislature has virtually no role and
the governor cannot sign or veto the maps.

The new districts will be used in 2012, both for the primary in August and
the general in November.

For some great background, our Redistricting webpage with background:
http://bit.ly/9Zk20q .

Here's a primer and a new historical booklet, 14 pages, of how the
congressional districts developed since statehood, and who represented each.

We got our 8th District after the 1980 Census and our 9th after the 1990
Census.

Postscript: Here are the other states that picked up one or more seats:
Texas (4), Florida (2), and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and
Utah, all one.  Of those losing: New York (2), Ohio (2), and Illinois, Iowa,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
all losing one.


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