The AZ Independent Redistricting Committee will be voting to choose AZ’s mapping consultant at tomorrow’s meeting.
Click here for the agenda
You can watch the proceedings here:
5/4/21 at 9 am
You can comment during the meeting here:
Comment form opens on 5/4/21 at 9 am
Republicans had many comments at the last meeting.:
Public Comments 4/27/21
Below are the three firms up for consideration:
HaystaqDNA, was the mapping consultant in 2011 that drew AZ’s current congressional and legislative districts. HaystaqDNA CEO, Ken Strasma, was the founder and president of Strategic Telemetry which worked for Barack Obama’s campaign, specialized in microtargeting for Democratic campaigns and had little experience in redistricting.
Taylor English Decisions, LLC, is an Atlanta-based firm that specializes in government strategy, economic development and election and campaign compliance. In addition to questioning the firm’s lack of experience in redistricting work, critics note that CEO Earl Ehrhart is a former Republican lawmaker from Georgia. He’s also the former national chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council which has a history of drafting conservative and pro-corporate model legislation that GOP lawmakers sponsor.
Timmons Group is an engineering firm headquartered in Richmond, VA. Opposition to the Timmons Group revolves around its partnership with National Demographics Corporation, which served as the mapping consultant for Arizona’s first redistricting commission in 2001, and the company’s president, Doug Johnson, who has Republican ties. The U.S. Department of Justice rejected the legislative map that Arizona’s first redistricting commission drew with NDC’s help in 2001, saying the map did include enough districts that gave minority voters the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice.