2010 Census Equals County Redistricting

As Colorado’s population gravitates to the metro front range, so to does the county population shift to more locally populated areas.  That decrease in county population and movement toward Lamar will necessitate an eventual redrawing of the three districts in Prowers County.  The county commissioners discussed three potential scenarios for new boundaries presented to them by Mary Root, County Land Use Administrator, and Jana Coen, County Clerk and Recorder.  The districts need to be redrawn in order to equally balance the numbers of residents among all three.    District One at 19% is under populated, District Two at 35% is just a few percentage points over the optimum of 33.3%, and District Three is over populated with 46% of the county’s population.  The county is facing a September 30 deadline to orient the districts to align with the 2010 national census and Colorado Statues.  A public hearing will be scheduled in which the commissioners will lay out the redistricting plans and the public will be given an opportunity to comment.  No date has been selected yet for the public hearing, but it’s expected to be held in July.  The city of Lamar underwent a similar boundary shift several years ago, using a committee of registered voters to enact the changes.

Statistics provided by the Historical Census Population and the Colorado Demography Office offer a comparison on county and town populations beginning with 1890 up to 2010.  Prowers County had 12,551 residents when the 2010 census was taken.  For other cities, the numbers are:  Granada-517, Hartman-81, Holly-802, Lamar-7,804 and Wiley-405.  The years in which the county and towns had their largest population are as follows:

Granada               2000                       640                        

Hartman              1930                       269

Holly                     1950                       1236

Lamar                    2000                       8869

Wiley                    1930                       589

Prowers               1950                       14,836

by Russ Baldwin