Deschutes County’s controversial district map is headed to the November ballot.

The Deschutes County Commission 2-1 vote Wednesday morning was the culmination of a three-month process and hours of debate in the last several months, setting up what promises to be a fierce campaign battle — and potentially a legal one — over the future of county elections.

If approved this fall, the district map would split the county into five geographic voting groups. Voters would elect a representative that lives within their district to serve on what will be a five-member county commission.

The committee assigned to draw new district maps for the future Deschutes County Commission finalized its plan Nov. 12 foregoing a final scheduled meeting despite pushback from opponents that the process had been rushed and excluded the public.

Enduring disputes reached a boiling point during the Nov. 12 meeting as a majority of the committee pushed ahead, foreshadowing what will likely be a contentious fight over the map as it heads to the May ballot.

One of the biggest challenges for the committee assigned to draw new district maps for Deschutes County Commission elections is working with five-year-old population data in a county that’s added more people than almost any other in the state since then.

So, the committee decided at its Oct. 15 meeting to rely primarily more recent set of data: voter registrations.

That decision was the group’s most contentious to date, splitting members for the first time along the partisan lines through which they were appointed.

Deschutes County voters decided in 2024 they wanted a five-member county commission, instead of three. Now there’s a new decision.

The sitting commissioners are working on a plan for creating five commission districts, instead of five commissioners all elected at large. This week, they will be working on the details of who will set the boundaries for the districts and how they will set them.

Commissioners will then vote on it.

Committee drama could turn into “expensive and divisive litigation”

There’ve been claims of a Mr. Mander moving into Deschutes County – folks call him Gerry. He’s from Massachusetts originally, but with deep ties to the South, and recently got run out of Texas by a federal court. 

Former Oregon Deputy Attorney General Pete Shepherd used reptilian imagery to describe the process of gerrymandering, where a region’s voting districts are designed to advantage one party disproportionally: “slimy,” “slithering,” and preferring “darkness to sunshine.”  

Voters have the chance to decide whether to elect Deschutes County commissioners by geographic district, using a new five-district map. We have serious reservations.