Locals who want to make a difference in multiple upcoming elections — those who want to ensure fair outcomes for the Pikes Peak region — have the chance of a lifetime for the next five days.

Colorado Springs, El Paso County and other parts of southern Colorado are behind metropolitan Denver-Boulder-Aurora in applicants to serve on the state’s new legislative and congressional independent redistricting commission. The deadline to apply is next Tuesday, Nov. 10. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Too much is at stake for these commissions to lack adequate representation from the Colorado Springs metropolitan area and surrounding rural communities. If metro Denver residents control the commissions, they will draw the 5th Congressional District and the boundaries for state House and Senate representation based on their view of our communities.

Even if they try to be fair, their lack of familiarity with regions outside theirs could mean lines are drawn that divide communities of common interests.

With proper representation on the commissions, we will end up with a 5th Congressional District comprised almost exclusively of El Paso County. That means one member of Congress can continue focusing attention on Colorado Springs and its suburbs and exurbs.

Without a commission that understands the need for this, we could wake up to a 5th Congressional District that includes some of Colorado Springs and sprawls north and south, or east and west, to include communities with vastly different interests.

Inadequate representation on the legislative commission could stick us with bizarre legislative districts that force state senators and representatives to juggle the competing interests of districts that needlessly combine urban, suburba, and rural special interests.

Colorado redraws election boundaries every 10 years and this is the first time average, mostly apolitical Colorado residents will do the work.

In the past, legislative majorities have controlled the process. They drew bizarre, gerrymandered maps to create safe districts the controlling party could count on to elect members of the party. That’s why Senate District 11, drawn as a district to elect a Democrat, stretches from upscale western Colorado Springs neighbor Manitou Springs, through the middle of the Springs and into the city’s southeast section. It combines neighborhoods that look like they’re on different planets. Political gerrymandering sliced and diced the city’s west-side neighborhoods to create safe districts for parties.

Voters put an end to that process in 2018 by approving Amendments Y and Z. The first created the congressional commission and the second the legislative commission. Each was intended to take party politics out of redistricting decisions and place an emphasis on jurisdictional lines that will more likely benefit communities of common, less-political interests.

Think in terms of keeping downtown residents and businesses, farming communities, and ethnic communities in districts designed to combine their unique needs. Visualize competing campaigns running on the merits of their platforms, not the surety of a “D” or an “R” affiliation guaranteeing victory.

Fair-minded, mostly apolitical people serving on these commissions could change our state for the better. The process could lead to pragmatic, useful and less politically doctrinaire representation.

Here’s the challenge for greater Colorado Springs. At last count, applicants from the 5th Congressional District accounted for only 8% of the applicant pool. They comprised only 13% of the legislative pool. Applicants from metro Denver and the northern Front Range disproportionately dominate applications pools for both commissions.

A panel of retired judges will choose the applicants and will not consider anyone for either commission who has been an elected official at the federal, state, county or municipal level in the past three years. A list of other disqualifying affiliations will be used to keep politicians and lobbyists off the commissions. They will appoint four Republicans, four Democrats and four unaffiliateds to each commission.

Nonpoliticos who want less politicized representation in Washington and Denver should apply to serve on these commissions. Take part in making our state less politically divisive and more community-minded.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To apply and learn more details, visit: https://www.coloradoneighborhoodcoalition.org/faqs/

The Gazette Editorial Board