Thread by @lwvne

Here we go with with #Redistricting public hearing for District 1! You can follow our live tweeting 🧵 and you can watch the live stream, here:

nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/series-medi…

Sen. @LouAnnLinehan opens by asking folks to understand this is a hard process, reaffirming that minority communities are protected & talking about what districts have been tweaked & shifted. She is now addressing an op-ed published this morning saying it had "substantial error"

She has not clarified where or by who this op-ed but is now speaking vaguely about the accusations without listing any names except Sen. Dorn and Sen. Brandt. She says she will "save her other frustrations for later."

Now @JustinTWayne opening and emphasizes that since 1882, Douglas County has been kept whole. He says there is no "logical or justifiable" reason to split it now. Reports that he feels that Bellevue has the most in common with the Douglas County Omaha metro, followed by La Vista

Wayne states that they aimed to not draw congressman out of districts.

Splits only 2 counties - Otto and Sarpy.

Reaffirms that he is open to other boundary adjustments but Douglas County cannot be split.

Sen. Wayne gives history to Legi maps. Emphasizes that moving districts to the more populated parts of the states is nothing new. His plans adds 1 district to this area (as a side note, based on only numbers, 27 seats should be in the 3 largest counties; Wayne's plan has 25)

We appreciate that @JustinTWayne is taking his opening to explain the details of his Legislative map, taking care to explain the community, geographic, and cultural reasons the proposed map has been drawn. Thank you, Vice Chair.

Sen. Lowe now asking about moving districts that have term limited senators. Wayne explains that was his logic and follows with "But if you want to help me get rid of term limits, I'm all for that"

Sen. Briese asking if Douglas is going to be need cut next Redistricting cycle based on growth, so why not wait? Wayne's response is yes, essentially but saying that it is the same argument being used in LB4

Side note, let's make these maps based on this data we have now, not what we think maybe it will look like in 10 yrs.

Also, even if we suspended reality enough to get on board with that, the way that LB1 splits Douglas is one of the least logical, most political ways to do it.

Not following Sen. Briese's logic that we need to protect cores of Legislative districts (49 state legislature districts) but not the core of the congressional districts (keeping Douglas County all in one district)

Thanks to @senatorblood for asking the question we just asked :)

Wayne says that Sen. Linehan's plan would not erase the blue dot.

Interesting. Based on what we've seen and heard, we think this is based solely on that fact that both map proposals would have gone for Biden in the last presidential cycle.

Although sometimes referred to as #Jomaha, #NE2 is so much more than that. It is so much more than Dems and Repubs.

We are an Omaha community. Many people live in what would live in NE2 and work in NE1. We are one city. Don't split it literally down the middle.

Sen. Brewer asks that we please be respectful of the folks who testify as they might not have the big picture the committee has.

Thanks for being that voice of decency, @TomBrewerForNe.

@TomBrewerForNe Sen. Brewer asks about the land mass issues for physically larger, smaller population districts, stating "I would have something to manage the size of Croatia"

Sen. Wayne - "There is no Senator I would rather lead Croatia than you"

Sen. Linehan asks if we should be looking to pre-1960 maps for guidance (i.e. not splitting Douglas)

"Yes and I say that knowing that I was counted in 1900, I was not allowed to vote. And if I did vote, I could be beaten for that" - @JustinTWayne

Sen. Wayne says that Sen. Linehan's map does not dilute minority voices and says it does not, saying "Leave that argument alone"

We've been working on reviewing this and our assessment of LB1 is that, whether intentional or not, it does. It may be small and it may be nuanced, but with the information we have, until demonstrated with data otherwise, we stand by that.

With that said, we commend @LouAnnLinehan's drafted map for restoring the Latino community of Grand Island in a more meaningful way than it was in the last set of maps in 2010

Now Sen. Moser raising concern about placement of Platte county, arguing it should be in District 1

Although nice to see our elected officials involved, this is PUBLIC hearing.

Please let the PUBLIC speak.

They have jobs and lives and kids they have moved around to be there today.

Senator Lathrop calling out the use of deviation to "protect" rural districts when the intention was for that deviation to be used in urban areas.

Says we "may be participating in something unlawful" by using that deviation this way.

We've been working with some Nebraska statisticians who have mathematically demonstrated this is exactly what is happening in Sen. Linehan's LB1.

Sen. Moser argues that the allowance should be allowed to "accomplish the goals the original legislation set for."🤨

Now shifted talking about minorities but not exactly sure why?

Sen. Briese says deviation can be used to "meet legitimate needs of redistricting," references the language of the "core" and "communities of interest."

For the record, the core language changed from "must" to "can" in the LR at the behest of many of those now using that defense

Terribly disappointed in our elected officials for taking the time away from the public. There's plenty of time in the next 3 wks for Senators to speak.

The way it reads from the here? Certain Senators are running out the clock so the public has to go home and can't testify.

Sen. Kolterman now protesting the dissolution of District 24. Says that the committee is violating it's own rules from LR134.

We don't disagree. LR134 seems like it has kind of been tossed out the window, except when politically convenient.

Kolterman continues by calling out partisanship and saying process has failed

"I received an email from my party titled Redistricting Meetings" that claimed that NE is a conservative state w/ conservative values.

Kolterman thinks this is violation of policy. And wrong.

Us too.

As a non-partisan organization that believe firmly in protecting democracy free of party politics, we thank @KoltermanforLeg for his honest, decent, public comments regarding the lack of party politics in this process.

(but also, can we hear from the public now?)

Ope! Freudian slip of "Democrats" instead of "Demographics" 😬😬😬

May I suggest instead of "dissolving" or "relocating" districts, we simply adjust all the lines?

....We know someone who has one of those...

Just going to leave this here...

"How many are you here to testify? Ok! We will be taking a lunch break!"

Yaaaaaaassssss!!!! Public for the win!!!!!

Sheriff testifying about the interconnectedness of services. Sen. Brewer says he doesn't see how changing the legislative district will change operations.

Sheriff responds "I'm not sure it would change"

@senatorblood follows up to clarify that it would be easier to work with one senator as opposed to two to achieved economic growth, services, etc. Sheriff clarifies it is more about Sen. Kolterman as a person.

Another testifier talking about York/Seward situation. Feels strongly they should not be split. Reports being "sad to see Polk" go asks that York and Seward be kept together.

Huge emphasis on the economic benefit of keeping York and Seward together.

Tip for tomorrow's Omaha hearing: SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

Again, districts don't belong to representatives, they belong to Nebraskans.

We have some really great representatives in our state and we are thankful for those voices.

BUT

Redistricting is about the people. "We have a great partnerships with a Senator/Rep"is not a legitimate reason for, well, anything in this process.

Testifier highlighting that splitting counties does have some actual, practical impact.

Always love hearing from @NonpartisanNeb! Thanks for being a valuable, important voice in our policy making! It is important for folks to realize this process will have long lasting trust issues for the public when highly politicized.

Calls out specific carve outs (our mind immediately goes to the Hasting area and the Irvington area in Omaha).

"There is sometimes too much old soldier in me" - @TomBrewerForNe as he apologies for his salty language

@TomBrewerForNe "You must add or subtract districts where the population are" - short and sweet and awesome, Cynthia! #The2ndHouse #ThisIsWhatDemocracyLooksLike

Seward, York, and Polk educators ask that the counties be kept together. Then cited some sources from @UNOmahaCPAR #DataForTheWin #CiteYourSources😍😍😍

Testifier says if we have to split based on numbers, keep York and Seward together.

Linehan now asking about what schools get state aid. Wonder why the equalization aid line of questioning.

Watchdogs of Lincoln support Linehan's bill saying "this is a safe beautiful place to live" and don't want it to be turned into a "liberal coast" and we need to keep it that way. She is concerned about the future of the country, state, cities, and rural areas.

@senatorblood asking why specifically she likes that map one or the other. Sen asks if she could be explicit in what part of the map is of concern to her. Validates that she hears here concerns but wants to know why. Thank you for asking that question.

"How is the way it is drawn out protect your values" - @senatorblood

Thank you.

Testifier says "it is a highly educated, interested people in Nebraska and I think they will be leaders in the voting and that is why I support it"

@senatorblood Young man, a deputy registrar in Hall County, here give us his take in opposition to LB1. Reports that youth in Omaha will not feel a unifying factor and disadvantage voters. Makes it unnecessarily complicated.

@LouAnnLinehanSarpyfo

This young man is awesome and beyond his years. Keeps his cool and explains he does have that concern but it is MORE of a concern for Douglas.

Thank you, sir!

The public is really showing up today and we are so proud! Polite, data, honest, genuine. Let's keep it up, folks!

Testifier arguing that keeping York and Seward together to protect rural health ability to advocate.

"NE is still a rural state and even a little frontier"

Some truth here but it's also just as much an urban state. In fact, >50% of our population lives in the urban areas of the three largest counties.

We are a rural state. We are an urban state. Both these things are true.

Love that the health person just ended with "I hope you are all vaccinated and where masks"

Public Health never sleeps.

Judy King is here and wearing an...interesting shirt...

@LouAnnLinehan clarifies we are not supposed to talk about political issues to Judy.

Agreed.

And we will look forward to you saying that to folks who maybe from the other side of the aisle if the case so arises later.

Judy said to Sen. Linehan "I know how smart you are, I just don't like the people you are listen to about these maps"

Testifier says we should adhere to "one person, one vote" and that looking at the math, we should adding more districts to urban areas. We should be keeping counties together and similar deviation.

Well, stated.

"We live in Sarpy County because we don't want to live in Douglas County. We don't want anything to do with Douglas County"

Wouldn't the part of Sarpy County that goes with Douglas, the part of the metro you wouldn't want to be associated with based on this?

@senatorblood asking for a clarification about why the testifier feels Sarpy doesn't belong. Testifier says "they are more conservative, don't like city things, we like our guns"

@senatorblood Next testifier said he first moved to Omaha and then was forced to move to Bellevue and says the communities are incredibly intertwined.

"I've never accidentally found myself in Saunders County"

Some good points about "good design" and says LB3 is "trying hard"

We are going to break for lunch until 1!

Time for more coffee! See you in an hour and a half.

We are back! You can watch the #Redistricting Public Hearing for District 1 resumes this afternoon here:

nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/series-medi…

@Adam_Morfeld, you're on :)

@Adam_Morfeld Testifier "partisan result can occur even in a non-partisan maps" and continues about structural racism. Says we need to make an active attempt to avoid this.

Next testifier says she doesn't think it was not non-partisan process. Even if it was, she emphasizes that the constitutional necessity is based on people not miles.

"As it is, the maps need to represent the people as they are"

Oh, BTW, she has a PdD in quantitative methods.

Higher deviation districts (aka packed) are more black and individual of color while low deviation districts (more sparsely populated) are more white.

We calculated based on total minus white population

@JustinTWayne. Don't know if that is the best method but it was the most accessible and easy to work with that we could find.

WE LOVE MATH AND DATA AND PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO WORK WITH IT!

The two statisticians we've been working with (our two favorite, but we may be biased) found the same.

Well, said, Mary! Clear, to the point, in understandable language about why including Bellevue is the most reasonable fit with Douglas County.

"You wouldn't know if you drove from Sarpy County into Douglas County unless you knew what the dividing line" - Testifier Mary

Also said, in relation to what a previous testifier said "Sarpy County is this", it is more nuance than that.

Testifier says upon returning to the state after living in several others states, she has heard lots of talk about "us" an "them" and has felt her vote hasn't felt counted.

"The Red we wear on Saturday is not the only Red we worship"

Reports that Sen. Albretch told her it was up to #The2ndHouse

Well, we are here!

Testifier concerned about speed & the lack of transparency of the process.

Reports email went out Friday they needed to email & then email went down.

"Even tho I was very specific, I was requested to resend my message with LB even tho we didn't know them at the time"

@LouAnnLinehan just stated there was going to be another hearing on Friday.

News to us! Good to know! Can we get some more details, @TomBrewerForNe, @JohnLoweNE, @Adam_Morfeld, @JustinTWayne, @senatorblood, and @SenSteveLathrop?

@LouAnnLinehan @TomBrewerForNe @JohnLoweNE @Adam_Morfeld @JustinTWayne @senatorblood @SenSteveLathrop Testifier talking about how different rural life is and how different rural children are different.

"They don't have time to think about math or a sexual aggressor because they are thinking about their goats"

"I'm here to reminder you that most of Nebraska is like me" - Testifier arguing for more rural representation on School Boards

No.

Not how it works.

And also, no, we are different - and that's ok, good in fact.

Hence the need for different districts.

Another testifier mad about the timeline and lack of communication and accessibility.

Now we are having a back and forth about curvy v straight lines and if they are roads, rivers, or gerrymandering.

@SenatorGeist speaks for the first time this hearing in response @GinBurger's raising concern about testifiers at recent School Board meetings

Wes Dodge points out that if had an independent commission, this wouldn't be placed on this committee and hopes we look into that in the future.

"When I first say the map that cut Douglas County cut, I felt like a bucket of water was thrown in my face."

Wes Dodge warns of the potential of litigation based on the split of Douglas County.

Conversation between Sen. Wayne and Wes Dodge about constitutional requirements of Redistricting being outlined in the state constitution.

Wes Dodge points out that although the data hasn't been available for more than 16 days, he says the process itself isn't surprise and might have helped with the time crunch.

@LouAnnLinehan is pushing Wes Dodge on what he means by "split in 2" on Douglas County. People? Land?

I don't understand the question - there was one district. this map would make it two.

That is a split, no?

@LouAnnLinehan @gavingeis of @CommonCauseNE says we've "lost the thread of what redistricting is for"

Amen.

"Discussion of land mass and population are two different discussions, and redistricting does not look at other factors as much as possible"

@LouAnnLinehan @gavingeis @CommonCauseNE "We should be following the data and making sure that each Nebraskans vote has equal power" - @gavingeis, @CommonCauseNE 👏👏👏

Alright friends, our rock star, Sheri St. Clair, is about to mic drop.

"Our goal in all of this is represent people not landmasses"

"If anything this speaks to the need for better broadband in the state"

- Sheri St. Clair

The @JustinTWayne's point about rounding and with district numbers and @LouAnnLinehan, in addition to the # of districts, we looked at deviation # too and they are not representative of the population

@JustinTWayne @LouAnnLinehan The pattern of where deviation is location and how big it, is our primary concern.

Danielle Conrad of the @ACLUofNE asking us to take a step back and think of what it is really about: people

"It is fair voting, fair allocation of resources"

Also reports having deep concerns about process (us too!)

"We need more time for meaningful public participation" - Danielle Conrad. Says it was hard to read the maps in they way they were released. Points to the Speaker to have the power to change timeline.

Sen. Wayne asks "you agree we need to have maps done by November." Conrad disagrees.

(SN: the Speaker wants to get this done by end of Sept and altho there are other considerations with the Gov, there is still a whole month to work with before we even run into filing deadlines)

Wait.

Need some clarification. I think I just heard someone say that all but one meeting has been open to the public.

Please clarify. @senatorblood, @JustinTWayne, @Adam_Morfeld, @LouAnnLinehan, @JohnLoweNE, and @SenSteveLathrop

Perhaps we are misunderstanding but if there is an argument being made by the committee members that this process has been completely, or even mostly, transparent and clear to the public, we disagree.

Significantly.

@LouAnnLinehan asks "in what way have we not been transparent"

Conrad responds: meetings early on were held in executive session.

Linehan: "we have never gone into executive session"

We are glad to hear Creighton @CommonCauseNE giving testimony. Specifically after the conversation that just happened about transparency.

@CommonCauseNE Excellent point, we did not need to wait until we had the data before engaging the public.

Very concerned that @LouAnnLinehan (and others on the committee) are trying to claim this has been an open & transparent.

So, to our friends & colleague who have been working tirelessly on behalf of Nebraskans, please share w/ us every example you have of lack of transparency

We will happily collect those over the next few days to compile them and present those as exhibits to share with the committee (if they will respond to our emails).

Aw, thanks for the shout out about our map!

(Also, thanks for being a great citizen and providing testimony) #The2ndHouse

And that ends District 1!

We will see you all tomorrow in Omaha at 10 am at the Scott Conference Center.