be wholly contained within a district; except that a division of such county, city, city and county, or town is permitted where, based on a preponderance of the evidence in the record, a community of interest's legislative issues are more essential to the fair and effective representation of residents of the district. When the commission divides a county, city, city and county, or town, it shall minimize the number of divisions of that county, city, city and county, or town.
(b) Districts must be as compact as is reasonably possible.
(3) (a) Thereafter, the commission shall, to the extent possible, maximize the number of politically competitive districts.
(b) In its hearings in various locations in the state, the commission shall solicit evidence relevant to competitiveness of elections in Colorado and shall assess such evidence in evaluating proposed maps.
(c) When the commission approves a plan, or when nonpartisan staff submits a plan in the absence of the commission's approval of a plan as provided in section 48.2 of this article V, the nonpartisan staff shall, within seventy-two hours of such action, make publicly available, and include in the commission's record, a report to demonstrate how the plan reflects the evidence presented to, and the findings concerning, the extent to which competitiveness in district elections is fostered consistent with the other criteria set forth in this section.
(d) For purposes of this subsection (3), "competitive" means having a reasonable potential for the party affiliation of the district's representative to change at least once between federal decennial censuses. Competitiveness may be measured by factors such as a proposed district's past election results, a proposed district's political party registration data, and evidence-based analyses of proposed districts.
(4) No map may be approved by the commission or given effect by the supreme court if: (a) It has been drawn for the purpose of protecting one or more incumbent members, or one or more declared candidates, of the senate or house of representatives, or any political party; or
(b) It has been drawn for the purpose of or results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person's race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group's electoral influence.
Source: Referred 2018: Entire section added, Amendment Z, L. 2018, p. 3106, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 19, 2018. See L. 2019, p. 4543.
Editor's note: "The Voting Rights Act of 1965" was erroneously referenced in subsection (1)(b) at 52 U.S.C. sec. 50301, as amended, but can be found at 52 U.S.C. sec. 10301, as amended.
Section 48.2.Preparation, amendment, and approval of plans - public hearings and participation. (1) The commission shall begin by considering a plan for the state senate and a plan for the state house of representatives, created by its nonpartisan staff alone, to be known as the "preliminary senate plan" and the "preliminary house plan". Such plans must be presented and published no earlier than thirty days and no later than forty-five days after the commission has convened or the necessary census data are available, whichever is later. Within the first
