D.C. officials are warning that delays in the release of granular population data from the U.S. Census could create havoc for the city’s 2022 election cycle, potentially leaving some residents voting for officials who may not end up representing them on the D.C. Council or in local neighborhood commissions.

The pandemic has delayed the release of block-by-block population data until late September. Once the data arrives, city officials will have 90 days to redraw the city’s wards to account for growth and population shifts since 2010. When that’s done, they’ll set about redrawing lines for voting precincts and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions — the 300 elected volunteers who represent neighborhoods across the city.

That process is expected to stretch into next year and could affect preparations for the June 21 primary, when D.C. voters will select party nominees for mayor, attorney general, and seats on the council — including those representing wards 1, 3, 5, and 6.

Speaking on Monday at the first hearing of the council’s special subcommittee on redistricting, D.C. election officials said they’d need all redrawing of city maps to be completed by Dec. 23, 2021 so they can set about preparing for the June primary. If that can’t happen — and it’s highly unlikely it will — they told lawmakers the council should simply allow residents to vote using the old maps.

That’s what’s happening in both Virginia and New Jersey, the only states that holding statewide elections this year — both are doing so using old maps because of the Census data delays.

But that prompted concerns from councilmembers, who worried it would leave some residents voting for candidates who may not ultimately represent them once all the new ward and ANC lines are redrawn and finalized. At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, who chairs the subcommittee, referenced Ward 6, currently the city’s most populated — and one with a council election next year.

“Let’s be honest: Ward 6 is going to be one of the Ground Zero places we’re going to be looking at. Some people who are in Ward 6 will be moved somewhere else, but will have voted for [a councilmember] and then be represented by someone else later on. That doesn’t seem fair to me,” she said.

But a possible alternative — splitting up the process so ward maps are finished first and ANC and precinct maps come later in 2022 — would be little better, warned Cliff Tatum, an official at the D.C. Board of Elections.

“We’d have to draw a set of precinct lines just for the June primary, and then once ANC lines are created we’d have to draw another set of lines. Once you assign voters to one particularly precinct you want them to remain there,” he said, warning that voters could end up confused.

Similar warnings and discussions possible solutions are happening across the country. Some states are considering using alternative sources of data to redraw maps; others are turning to the courts to either force the Census to release the needed data or to find a way out of legal mandates requiring the new maps be done on a set schedule.

Silverman floated one idea, which she likened to a “grenade” — changing the date of the 2022 primary to give the redistricting process a few more months to wrap up. She also pondered whether ANC and precinct lines could be drawn so they match; currently, the lines don’t align, leaving some voting precincts with multiple ANCs. Election officials said they have long proposed as much, though making such a change would require quick council action.

“We’re looking at tradeoffs,” said Silverman. “Do we have more accurate boundaries that will reflect representation… or do we keep things status quo so there is a limit to confusion? That’s the decision we’re making here. I will admit I am biased to have people vote for people who will eventually represent them for at least four years.”

During the hearing, another concern on redistricting emerged: parking.

While most states going through redistricting have to contend with partisan ploys to redraw districts to benefit elected officials from one party or the other, speakers at Monday’s hearing warned that D.C. residents — largely Democrats — will instead fight to prevent losing particular parking privileges based on where they live.

“It’s parking that will mobilize outcry,” said Corey Holman, an ANC commissioner from the east end of Capitol Hill.

Currently, drivers who live in a particular ward largely get free street parking throughout that ward. And that has long conferred certain benefits; a resident living on the outer edge of Ward 3 can park their car close to the Woodley Park Metro station for the whole day, while a resident of Capitol Hill can park for free close to busy commercial areas like Eastern Market or The Wharf.

But when redistricting happens, residents on the outer edges of existing wards may run the risk of being moved to another ward — and thus lose the associated parking privileges. During the last redistricting process in 2011, residents of one outer Ward 6 neighborhood stood to lose their Ward 6 residential parking permit when they were to be redistricted into Ward 7, prompting the city to specifically carve out their neighborhood so it could keep the Ward 6 parking perks.

“We do value our Ward 6 parking,” said Nathan Schuh, who lives on the east end of Capitol Hill, during the hearing.

Holman urged lawmakers to “sever political boundaries from parking boundaries,” a point that At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson said she would be open to discussing.

“Let’s be honest about the situation — D.C.’s redistricting is intimately tied to parking. If for a flat $50 residential permit parking fee you get to park from the Wharf to NoMa to H Street, changing wards is a seismic shift,” she said. “Perhaps it should be decoupled.”

Silverman floated the idea of narrower residential parking privileges that would allow drivers to park for free within a few blocks of their home, but not across the entire ward and including busy commercial areas. But any such change would have to clear the council, and lawmakers may shy away because of the small controversies and complaints that redistricting usually spawns.

“My Twitter mentions are in shambles because I took on parking,” joked Henderson.

While it remains to be seen which ward boundaries will changes — and by how much — recent population data indicates movement will occur. D.C. law requires the eight wards to be of similar populations, with a deviation of up to 10% allowed. As of 2019, Ward 6 led the city in population at 99,786, while Ward 2 trailed behind at 77,855 — a difference of 22%.

It also remains to be seen whether wards 7 and 8 come further across the Anacostia River. In 2011, Ward 7 crossed the river and claimed a portion of Ward 6; former mayor and councilmember Marion Barry also argued that Ward 8 should leap over the water to encompass portions of Navy Yard or the Southwest Waterfront.

This round of redistricting comes at a different time — politically — with more emphasis within the government on how to correct for racial inequities. While some of the speakers at the hearing advocated for keeping certain neighborhoods together, some city officials said doing so could actually work against breaking down historic barriers.

“On the one hand there is value in inheriting the past and not making too many changes. But that reflects a history of segregation in many cases,” said Andrew Trueblood, the director of the D.C. Office of Planning. “And so there will be questions about how and if there is a consideration of equity. In some cases, that may mean keeping neighborhoods together.”

“We do this every 10 years,” said Henderson about the process of redrawing boundaries in the city. “I know change is very difficult.”