Redistricting Lawsuit - League of Women Voters of Colorado

HomeGreeley-Weld Press Release

GREELEY, COLORADO (October 23, 2023) – Today, the League of Women Voters of Greeley-Weld County and the Latino Coalition of Weld County, together with individuals Stacy Suniga and Barbara Whinery, sued the Board of Weld County Commissioners and the five individual County Commissioners for their intentional decision to disobey Colorado law when redrawing the boundaries of Weld County commissioner districts.

The lawsuit stems from the Commissioners’ failure to follow House Bill 21-1047, which requires counties like Weld to use redistricting commissions to seek public input on multiple proposed maps before a final map is selected and approved.

The Commissioners claimed they did not have to follow that law and were instead permitted to simply redraw the boundary lines themselves. The map reflecting their redrawn districts was initially approved at a public hearing at which only three of the five Commissioners were present and no member of the public attended. The map was finally approved at a second public hearing over the objections of nearly every member of the public that attended.

“The way the Board and Commissioners acted deprives all Weld County citizens of their right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. It guts the safeguards and promises of public input and participation Colorado law provides,” said Whinery.

Suniga added, “It harms all of us—Republican, Democrat, Independent — as none of us were given the public information and participation we’re entitled to. This is not what democracy is supposed to look like in Colorado.”

Kathleen Milligan, spokesperson for the League of Women Voters of Greeley-Weld County agreed: “The General Assembly made clear Weld County was to follow House Bill 21-1047. We’ve filed this lawsuit to make sure that promise is fulfilled.”

The lawsuit is captioned League of Women Voters of Greeley, Weld County et al. v. The Board of County Commissioners of the County of Weld, et al., Weld County District Court Case No 2023CV30834.

Further media inquiries may be directed to Beth Hendrix, Executive Director, League of Women Voters of Colorado at 720-334-4104 or bhendrix@lwvcolorado.org.

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