Several States consider redistricting plans
When California voters go to the polls Nov. 8 to decide whether to strip lawmakers of the authority to draw their own districts, so will voters in Ohio. Millions more are likely to follow in Massachusetts and Florida.
In these and more than a dozen other states, activists are busy concocting different solutions to the same problem. They are trying to find a less political way to draw districts for Congress and legislatures so voters have a better crack at actually deciding elections.
Redistricting reform proponents, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, say the facts speak for themselves: In November 2004, not one of the 153 congressional and legislative races in California changed parties. None of Ohio's congressional seats changed hands. Either a Democrat or a Republican didn't bother to run in 72% of the races for the Florida Legislature and almost half the races for the Massachusetts Legislature.
"Sort of like the Politburo," said Pamela H. Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. She said some lawmakers there haven't faced an opponent in more than a decade. "You can imagine that that has some pretty dire consequences to political accountability," she said.
Calls for taking redistricting from the self-interested hands of lawmakers are nothing new. They often arise from the out-of-power party, whose enthusiasm for "reform" wanes once they've gained control. And groups such as Common Cause have been pursuing reform since the 1970s, with occasional success.
I don't like all of the proposed plans for dealing with this. But the idea in general is a good one. I would love to see it mandated nationally in some form, though I'm not sure there is any legal way to do so.
In California, for example, Democratic legislative leaders are scrambling to raise money to defeat Proposition 77. They have said they are willing to give up redistricting authority, but not under the rules of Schwarzenegger's initiative. They complain that it calls for the immediate redrawing of legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization districts, before the 2010 Census.
The 2010 issue is really whinning, but I think it was a mistake to include it exactly because it gave opponents an easy target. On the other hand, Schwarzenegger wouldn't have gained anything from the change if it had to wait till 2010.
This is a hard slog out issue exactly because which ever party is currently in power suddenly doesn't feel the need for significant reform. But it looks like the issue is building some steam, both because people are recognizing that it is becoming a bigger problem and because the mess in Texas made it a well known issue in political circles.
Jay
