With the application period now closed, 2,500 Coloradans have applied to be part of the new voter-approved redistricting commissions, which will redraw the state’s congressional and legislative districts next year.

In the coming weeks and months, the pool of applicants will be narrowed, and two groups of 12 commissioners — one for the congressional map and one for the legislative map, comprised of four Republicans, four Democrats and four unaffiliated voters — will be empaneled to redistrict the state.

For the congressional redistricting commission, 2,101 applied. For the legislative commission 1,488 applied. Of those, 1,136 applied for both.

The Secretary of State’s Office is now reviewing each application to ensure that the applicants meet the minimum requirements: “All applicants must be registered to vote in Colorado, must have voted in the last two general elections (2016 and 2018) in Colorado, and must have been affiliated with the same political party or not affiliated with any political party for the last five years.” There are also restrictions for people who were candidates or elected officials, as well as lobbyists.

Jessika Shipley, a staff member on the Colorado General Assembly Legislative Council, the nonpartisan group that handles much of the redistricting commission’s administrative actions, said the Secretary of State’s Office has returned about one-quarter of the applications because of a deficiency. If the deficiency can be remedied by obtaining more information from the applicant, Shipley said they are being contacted to do so.

Shipley said the qualification check should be done in a matter of weeks.

A combination of review by a panel of judges, review by legislative leaders and random selection will then determine the final selection for the commissions.

Halfway through in the application period, only a few hundred people had applied for the commissions, but thousands came in just before the deadline, Shipley said. Advocacy groups have been encouraging people across the state to apply for months, but Shipley said it seems those efforts ramped up significantly toward the end of the application period.

About one-half of the applicants are Democrats, about 20% are Republicans and about 30% are unaffiliated voters. Compared to the state’s active voter rolls, Democrats are overrepresented in the applicant pool, and Republicans and unaffiliated voters are both underrepresented.

Seventy-five percent of the applicants are white, even though only 68% of the state’s population is white. And despite making up 22% of the population, Hispanic Coloradans make up only 10% of the applicants.