BOISE CITY, Idaho — The Boise City Districting Commission is inviting Boise residents to draft and submit map ideas for the 2023 city council elections.
Cities with populations over 100,000 people are required to create districts for city council elections rather than voting at-large, after HB413 was passed in the 2020 legislative session. Boise, Meridian, and Nampa are now required to elect council members by districts.
The statute does not dictate how districts should be created, however, the council decided on a citizen commission process, which was established by ordinance earlier this year.
Maptitude, a program for map districting, is available for public use from Sept. 29 - Oct. 13, through the Boise Districting Commission. The proposed maps need to include six districts, with near equal populations in each election precinct, that are contiguous.
All six council districts are up for election for 2023. Odd-numbered districts will vote for four-year terms, while even-numbered districts run for two-year terms in order to stagger council elects.
In 2021, the council worked with a consultant to draw up the districts, due to the short turnaround time. Seats 1,3 and 5 were up for election in the Boise City Council; those council members were elected for two-year terms instead of the standard four.
Commissioners Micki Love, Quinn Perry, Kathy Peter, Travis Spiker and Carolina Valderrama Echavarria are holding a public meeting again on Wednesday, Oct. 19, for community members to discuss proposed maps and comment on the districting process.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the City of Boise's YouTube channel. The last scheduled meeting will be held on Oct. 26, at 5:30 p.m.
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