Representatives of several organizations came before the Hamilton County Commission last week to plead for transparency and openness in the redistricting process that must follow the recently completed census count.
“We want to reiterate how important it is to us and to all Hamilton County residents that the process of redistricting be transparent, open and fair,” said Sharon Alexander, voter services director of the Chattanooga League of Women Voters and the voter registration lead for the Hamilton County Voters Coalition.
In her remarks, she also asked that the commission define the public process for redistricting, include nonpartisan community members on the redistricting committee, that redistricting maps be released in time for public study and comment before the commission votes on them, that the redistricting committee meetings would be livestreamed and that the commission pass a resolution that creates a timeline for the process that includes map creation, livestreaming and a time for public comment.
Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley previously has said that the process would be open and the decisions and maps that emerged would be made public all along the way.
What the public should hope is that the Republican-led process never becomes the highly partisan exercise it was when Democrats controlled Congress, the state and the county for most of the last 70 years of the 20th century.