GIS expert will help county redistrict

Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker presented county commissioners Monday with a contract to hire Courtney Thompson, a GIS (Geographic Information System) technician for Lincoln County’s public works department, to chart a redistricting plan for Whitman County.

The county will pay for Thompson’s time and travel and for the use of Lincoln County’s GIS equipment. Whitman County has no GIS equipment.

The county must have its finalized plan approved by the Secretary of State’s office by May 4, which is one month before filing opens for political candidates.

Coker noted precinct lines cannot be changed near elections. That provides county elections officials only a few short “windows” to change the precincts, she said.

Precinct boundaries change based on information from the federal government’s 2010 census.

Whitman County gained 4,126 people in the 2010 Census, but only because Pullman’s population grew by 5,124.

That means most of the focus of the redistricting plan will be on Pullman. Coker said most of Pullman’s growth over the past decade has been in the southern part of town, which lies within County Commissioner District 3.

“Pullman grew your direction,” Coker said to Commissioner Michael Largent.

There is a 3,400 person difference between commissioner districts two and three.

Pullman officials used census blocks to redraw the boundaries for its city council wards. The blocks are areas which the U.S. Census Bureau split out for its citizen count in 2010.

The census blocks would not work for the county’s new plan because it does not take into account unincorporated areas of the county.

The precision needed to draw new boundaries in Pullman will require GIS technology, a problem for Whitman County, said Coker.

Whitman County can have more than 200 ballot titles in large elections, more than any other county in the state, said Elections Supervisor Debbie Hooper. By contrast, she said, King County had 53 titles in the 2008 presidential election.