A new website is hoping to give greater insight into how representation in state legislatures compares to a state's demographics.
www.LegislatorDiversity.com has compiled information from every state that includes the number of state lawmakers and a breakdown of the state's racial, political and gender makeup.
One of the creators the website, Andy Neville, said based on the information he’s gathered, Colorado is within the top 15 states for legislature diversity.
However, the state has room for improvement.
“Colorado, as far as people of color are concerned, they were underrepresented in the latest election by eight percentage point compared to the state population,” Neville said.
Neville said Colorado’s Latino community is underrepresented by about 13% and that’s the biggest disparity when comparing representation to demographics in the state.
When looking at national trends, Neville said some of the biggest disparities in representation can be found when looking at the gender identities of state lawmakers.
“I was shocked when I saw that in state legislatures, the average is only 31% are female, which is shockingly low. I had no idea it would be that low,” Neville said.
In Colorado, women account for 47% of all state lawmakers.
www.LegislatorDiversity.com also found that Black Coloradans have a state lawmaker representation rate that is higher than the Black population in the state.
