Students gathered Monday afternoon on the campus of Cascadia Community College for a pre-election day civics lesson about the redistricting of the 1st Legislative District and 9th Congressional District.

Rep. Luis Moscoso (D-Mountlake Terrace) and an elections specialist from the Office of the Secretary of State, Nick Pharris, joined Cascadia and University Washington Bothell faculty to explain how redistricting impacts voter turnout and election results.

More than 125 students attended the panel discussion, asking questions ranging from basic questions such as, “Is it too late to register?” to “How does redistricting impact vulnerable, transient populations?”

Other panel participants included Cascadia professors Jesus Perez and Erin Richards, along with UW Bothell professor Camille Walsh.

“We wanted a pre-election day event that didn’t focus on a specific race or issue, and that was still relevant to our student population,” says event organizer, Jessica Ketcham Weber, an English Professor at Cascadia. “The idea was to contextualize for our students that maps are fluid, not static. They are constructed by humans, so are not immune to special interests and political parties.”

The event is part of Cascadia’s campus-wide integrated learning theme.

Every year a topic is chosen around which instructors from all different disciplines work to plan curriculum and develop activities that relate to the theme.

This year’s theme is maps.