Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is tasked with drawing new voting districts.

The five-member body will finish the first round of its 2021 public meetings early this week, with an in-person session Monday in Mesa and a virtual one on Tuesday.

The meetings began in late July.

Some of the considerations the commissioners are tasked with include drawing districts based on equal population, competitiveness and adherence to federal and state voting statutes.

More public input will be sought by the commission this fall and winter as the process to draw new maps continues.

The new district lines are expected to be in place for the 2022 elections.

Voters created the commission in 2000 to thwart state legislators’ influence over the redistricting process that occurs every decade following the U.S. Census.