Ever since Redistricting Commissioners Slade Gorton and Tim Ceis unveiled their proposed new congressional district map for Washington State, citizens and activists have been asking questions about the new 1st, which is geographically and demographically very different from the old 1st District that Jay Inslee used to represent before he resigned to run for governor.

Looking at a map of the new districts, it’s clear the lines of the 1st changed far more than those of any of the other districts. This is because the Redistricting Commission sought to avoid drawing Washington’s incumbent U.S. representatives out of their districts, so they wouldn’t have to move to fulfill residency requirements to remain in office.

But the commissioners knew well in advance of New Year’s Day (their deadline for coming up with new maps) that Inslee would be leaving Congress to run for governor. As a consequence, they decided to be very creative in coming up with the boundaries for the new 1st. They drew a sprawling district that goes all the way from Medina and Hunts Point in King County to Blaine and Point Roberts in Whatcom County, encompassing dozens of suburban and rural communities in between. The word diverse doesn’t do this new district justice. It is truly unusual. And it will be intensely fought over in the coming months, for it was drawn to be             competitive.

More than half a dozen serious candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to represent the new 1st. Republicans are coalescing around dairy farmer John Koster, who previously ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democrat, in the old 2nd District. Democrats have a large field of five candidates, consisting of Darcy Burner (who challenged Dave Reichert for Congress in 2006 and 2008) and Suzan DelBene (who challenged Reichert in 2010), Laura Ruderman (formerly the old 45th District’s state representative), Steve Hobbs (a state senator from the 44th) and Darshan Rauniyar (a Nepalese-American businessman).

All of these candidates are running in the new 1st Congressional District for the upcoming two-year term that will begin in January 2013.

Complicating matters, however, is the fallout resulting from Inslee’s decision to resign from Congress to campaign full time for governor. Gov. Chris Gregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed have determined that the law requires them to call a special election to fill Inslee’s unexpired term. Because Inslee resigned too late for a special election to be scheduled in late spring or early summer, the election to fill his unexpired term in the old 1st will happen at the same time as the election for the full two-year term in the new 1st District. The winner of the special election of the unexpired term will only serve for a few weeks in December 2012, unless he or she also happens to be the winner of the election for the full two-year term.

If that weren’t confusing enough, most of the candidates who had originally filed to run only in the new 1st decided on the last day of filing week to also run in the old 1st, for the unexpired term. Only Hobbs and independent Larry Ishmael opted to run just in the new 1st for the full two-year term.

What does the special election mean if you are a voter? If you don’t live in the old 1st or the new 1st, you won’t see either race on your ballot and you won’t have to worry about it. If you live in the old 1st but not the new 1st, you will get to vote in the special election for the unexpired term along with being able to vote for U.S. Representative in your new district. If you live in the new 1st but not the old 1st, you don’t get to vote in the special election, but you do get to help choose who will represent the new district for the next two years. Finally, if you live in both the old 1st and the new 1st, you’ll see two 1st District races on your ballot – the one for the unexpired term and the one for the new full term beginning January 2013, and you’ll be able to participate in both.

If you’re a Democrat who lives in the old 1st and the new 1st who prefers either Ruderman, Burner, DelBene, or Darshan Rauniyar, you can vote for your preferred candidate twice – once for the unexpired term and once for the new full term. And if you’re a Republican in the same situation, you can vote for Koster twice if you wish.

If you’d rather vote for a “caretaker” candidate who is not also running for the new 1st, your choices include Democrats Bob Champion, Ruth Morrison, Brian Berry, J. Byron Holcomb and Brian Sullivan, along with Republican Steven Gerdes.

If you’d like more information about the special election in the old 1st visit the Secretary of State’s website at http://sos.wa.gov/. This is also where the online voters’ pamphlet will be posted for the Top Two election.

Andrew Villeneuve, a 2005 Redmond High graduate, is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Redmond-based grassroots organization. Villeneuve can be reached at andrew@nwprogressive.org.