Districting Timeline

Last month, Portland’s City Council appointed a 13 member independent commission to draw Portland's electoral districts. They have eight months, until September 2023, to do so. But how will Portland adapt and redraw its districts as the city grows and experiences demographic shifts in the years to come? 

In a similar way.

Just like Oregon’s congressional and legislative districts, Portland’s redistricting process will be tied to the U.S. Census. By March 31 every year following the decadal Census, the Portland City Council will confirm a redistricting body to redesign Portland’s districts by September 1 of the same year. 

The city will have a slightly longer time frame than the state of Oregon to redraw its districts. While both governments will receive redistricting data at the same time (the Census Bureau has a statutory obligation to provide redistricting data to the states by April 1st of the year following the census), Oregon legislators typically only have until the end of the legislative session in June to redraw statewide legislative and congressional districts (1).

(1)  The Oregon Supreme Court may make exceptions under special circumstances. For example, during the last redistricting process, the court gave the  legislature until September 27th to pass a redistricting plan due to a delay in the release of  Census data.