Early Redistricting
Statehood-1930
When Washington became a state, the legislature created 34 single member senatorial districts and 49 representative districts which elected between one and three representatives for a total of 78 representatives. [4] In 1901, the legislature redistricted the state to have 42 senate districts and 56 representative districts over the veto of Governor John Rankin Rogers. From 1901 until 1931, Washington only made minor adjustments the boundaries of the state legislative districts, while added senators and representatives for new counties. [4] [5]
1930 redistricting
In 1930, ballot initiative 57 was put on the ballot and passed with 50.17% voting in favor and 49.83% against with a margin of 795 votes. [6] Ballot initiative 57 redistricted the state, and increased the number of senators from 42 to 46 and the number of representatives from 97 to 99. Prior to initiative 57, the state senate and state house districts were distinct, but with its passage, the senate and house districts were merged. [7] While each district still elected one senator, they remained unequal in the number of representatives elected ranging from one to three. [8]
1950 redistricting
From 1930 to 1956, the state legislature only made minor adjustments to the state legislative boundaries prompting the League of Women Voters to place initiative 199 on the ballot in November 1956. [9] Initiative 199 created 49 legislative districts with each electing one senator and two representatives except for the 31st district which elected three representatives. [10] [11] [12] [13] Despite another attempt in 1962 with initiative 211, this was the last time that Washington's legislative districts were redrawn directly by a ballot initiative.
Equal Apportionment Era
Baker v. Carr redistricting
In the 1962 landmark case Baker v. Carr , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause provided a basis for citizens to bring legal action for the malapportionment of electoral districts. [14] In response to this ruling, the League of Women Voters put initiative 211 on the ballot in November 1962 which would have made all legislative districts be of equal population. [15] The initiative was opposed by those in less populous portions of the state on the basis that King County already contained 30% of the seats in both chambers and it ultimately failed at the ballot box earning 47.33% of the vote. [16] Separately, in August 1962 James Thigpen filed a lawsuit against Washington Secretary of State Victor Aloysius Meyers to force the state to make their legislative districts equally sized. After initiative 211 was defeated, in December 1962, District Court Judge William Beeks ruled Washington's legislative districts unconstitutional in the court case Thigpen v. Meyers. [17] His judgement in this case was stayed while the 9th Circuit and Supreme Court heard appeals, but they were ultimately rejected. While the case was being heard, in June 1964, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Reynolds v. Sims which required both chambers of state legislatures to have districts which were equally apportioned according to population. After the Supreme Court rejected the state's appeals, in October 1964 the district court ordered the Washington Legislature to enact a reapportionment plan that was constitutional under both Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims before they could consider any other business. [4] [18] 47 days into the legislative session, the legislature passed a redistricting bill which created 49 single member senate districts and 56 representative districts which elected between one and three members. [19] [20] [21]
1970 redistricting
After the 1970 elections, Democrats controlled the Senate while Republicans controlled the House and the Governor's mansion. This led to a deadlock with the legislature failing to pass a redistricting plan during the 1971 legislative session. [22] In response, the case Prince v. Kramer was filed by George Prince in the District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking to force the state to redistrict. [23] The district court ruled the district unconstitutional in 1971, and ordered the legislature to draw new maps by the end of their legislative session or the court would draw the maps. After the 1972 session passed without new maps, the court ordered new maps drawn for the upcoming 1972 elections. [4] [24] [25] The court-ordered map set the number of senators at 49 and representatives at 98 with two representatives being elected from each district which, other than a break following the 1980 redistricting, is how maps are drawn in Washington to this day. [26]
1980 redistricting
After the 1980 elections, Republicans controlled both houses of the legislature and the governorship. The state legislature passed redistricting bills for both the state legislature and Washington's congressional districts. [4] While Governor John Spellman signed the legislative redistricting into law, he vetoed the congressional maps due to the objections from Washington's congressional delegation. [27] In a slight change from the 1970 map, the 19th and 39th senate districts were broken up into an A and B district for their house map. [4]
Washington Redistricting Commission Era
Establishment of the Redistricting Commission
Following a court order in 1983 in the case Doph, et. al, v. Munro, Washington established a temporary citizen panel to draw their congressional boundaries following the 1980 census. The panel was made up of two Democrats, two Republicans, and one non-voting non-partisan chair. They subsequently referred Senate Joint Resolution 103 to the voters which would amend Washington's Constitution to transfer the responsibility of redistricting from the Legislature to an independent commission of two Democrats, two Republicans, and a non-partisan chair. [28] It was approved by voters in the 1983 election earning 61% of the vote becoming Amendment 74 to the Washington Constitution. [29]
1990 redistricting
This was the first redistricting cycle where the Washington State Redistricting Commission was charged with the task of redistricting both Washington's congressional and state legislative districts. After the 1990 census, Washington had also gained its 9th Congressional District. The plan was submitted on January 1, 1992, and went into effect on February 11 with only minor changes from the legislature. [4] [30] After this, in 1995, the legislature passed a law requiring the commission to transmit their redistricting plan to the legislature no later than December 15 of a year ending in one, but the constitutional deadline remained on January 1 of a year ending in two. [31]
2000 redistricting
After the 2000 census, the second redistricting commission met and submitted a plan for the legislative districts to the legislature by the statutory deadline of December 15, 2001. [4] However, due to disagreements, they did not transmit a congressional map to the legislature until the constitutional deadline of January 1, 2002. At the request of Attorney General Christine Gregoire, Governor Gary Locke signed a bill moving the statutory deadline back to January 1 of a year ending in two and signed both maps into law. [32]
2010 redistricting
After the 2010 census, the third Redistricting Commission met and submitted redistricting plans to the state legislature for both Washington's congressional and legislative districts at the January 1 deadline. These plans included Washington's new 10th Congressional District. The maps were passed and signed into law with minor adjustments from the legislature. [33]
In between redistricting cycles, during the 2016 legislative session, the legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 8210 which changed the constitutional deadline for the redistricting commission to transmit a proposed map to the legislature from January 1 of a year ending in two to November 15 of a year ending in one. [34] It was approved by voters in November 2016 with 77% of the vote becoming Amendment 108 to the Washington Constitution. [35]
Another change to the redistricting process came when Senate Bill 5287 was signed into law in 2019 becoming RCW 44.05.140. [36] This law required the redistricting commission to count most inmates as residing in their last place of residence rather than wherever they are incarcerated for the purposes of reapportioning and redistricting. [37]
2020 redistricting
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the results from the 2020 census were released four and a half months late in mid-August 2021. [38] The fourth Redistricting Commission was faced with a short timeline and several changes made to the redistricting process between 2010 and 2020. They failed to transmit a plan by midnight on November 15, but agreed to a set of maps on November 16, 2021. [4] [39]
Under the Washington state constitution, if the commission fails to pass a redistricting plan, then the state Supreme Court is required to do so. Despite missing their deadline, the Redistricting Commission encouraged the state Supreme Court to enact the maps they had agreed on. [40] On December 3, the court ruled that the commission had "substantially complied with the statutory deadline" and ordered the commission to complete its work to transmit the consensus redistricting plans to the legislature. [41] The legislature passed the plan with minor amendments and it went into effect on February 8, 2022.
After the plan was completed in November 2021, multiple lawsuits were filed alleging that the Redistricting Commission had violated Washington's public meetings law. In March 2022, the cases were settled with each of the commissioners paying a fine of $500, the commission covering $135,000 of legal costs for the plaintiffs, and entering into a consent decree pledging reforms and trainings. [42]
Soto Palmer, et al., v. Hobbs, et al. redistricting
On January 19, 2022, a group of Washington voters filed a lawsuit alleging that the state legislative maps as drawn violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and asked the court to draw a new map that would provide an opportunity for the Hispanic and Latino communities in the Yakima Valley to elect a representative. [43]
On March 15, 2024, Judge Lasnik ruled that Washington State legislative districts 14 and 15 in the Yakima Valley portion of Central Washington as they were drawn by the Washington State Redistricting Commission in 2021 violated the VRA. [44] In the same ruling, he approved a new set of maps to be used for the 2024 State House and Senate elections. [45]
Due to the court order, 13 districts, primarily in Central Washington, were redrawn. The legislative districts that had boundary changes due to this redistricting are District 2, District 5, District 7, District 8, District 9, District 12, District 13, District 14, District 15, District 16,District 17, District 20, and District 31 with largest changes being made to Districts 8, 14, 15, and 16.
The ruling was criticized by Republican lawmakers in Washington who requested a stay from the 9th Circuit and subsequently the Supreme Court pending their appeal. On March 22, the 9th Circuit denied their attempt to stay Judge Lasnik's decision and on April 3, 2024, the Supreme Court also denied their request for a stay ensuring the new maps would be used for elections in 2024. [46] In August 2025, in an opinion written by Judge Margaret McKeown, the three judge panel for the 9th Circuit upheld both Judge Lasnik's ruling that the original maps violated the VRA and the new maps put in place by Judge Lasnik. [47] The intervenor defendants have not filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court. [48]
