El Pasoans urged to give public comment at state hearing on redistricting

A state redistricting committee is inviting El Pasoans to speak during a hearing on the 2020 Census and 2021 redistricting. The hearing will be at UTEP's Magoffin Auditorium beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday, January 9.

The purpose of the hearing is to solicit public input on the 2021 legislative redistricting process and provide context to the official 2020 Census data that the 87th Legislature will receive by April 2021. Since the Legislature will not receive official data from the U.S. Census Bureau until the 87th session is underway, the hearing seeks give Texans the opportunity to share information they believe is relevant to the upcoming redistricting process.

District 75 State Representative Mary Gonzalez, whose district includes east El Paso county, says the key to redistricting is completing the 2020 Census to ensure everyone is counted.

"What we're worried about as elected officials is we predict that we (El Paso County) are going to be very undercounted," said Gonzalez. Undercounting could result in a loss of funding for projects vital to the county or even losing one of El Paso's state representatives.