FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2025
Better Utah Institute Releases Redistricting Map Analysis During the Public Comment Period
(SALT LAKE CITY, UT) — As Utah is in a pivotal phase in the court-ordered redistricting process, Better Utah Institute has released an in-depth analysis of the congressional map proposals currently under consideration by the Utah Legislature. This release is intended to inform the public during the official comment period and promote transparency, accountability, and voter awareness.
The analysis evaluates each map based on four key criteria widely used by redistricting experts and supported by the standards included in Proposition 4:
Evaluation Criteria:
- City Splits: The number of cities that are divided across multiple districts. Proposition 4 emphasized the importance of minimizing splits to preserve community representation.
- County Splits: The number of counties split across multiple districts. Keeping counties whole helps maintain consistent local governance and representation.
- Compactness: A measurement of how geographically compact each district is, based on a 0–100 scale. More compact districts reduce the likelihood of gerrymandering.
- Competitiveness: Indicates the likelihood that more than one political party can viably compete in an election within a given district. Higher scores reflect greater electoral fairness.
- Proportionality: Assesses how closely the share of seats aligns with each party’s share of the statewide vote. A higher score suggests the map better reflects voters’ preferences.
The proposed maps, identified by options A through E, and the Escamilla/Owens map, are scored accordingly to allow for public comparison. The full analysis, including maps and methodology, is available as an attachment to this release and at https://betterutahinstitute.org/maps.
Better Utah encourages all Utahns to participate in the public comment period and demand congressional maps that reflect the will of the people, not partisan interests.
