Common Cause Blog

Redistricting

The Washington Post calls for a federal redistricting reform measure at the federal level.

The remedy would be to put redistricting in independent hands; to require that districts be drawn without regard to partisan concerns; and to prohibit redrawing between censuses. A dozen states have some form of nonpartisan commission or other process to draw district lines; nearly half ban mid-cycle redistricting.

But the problem is serious enough to justify federal action.

The piece points out that both McCain and Obama have made public statements in support of redistricting reform, but there's been virtually no progress yet on the federal front.

Meanwhile, in California, Common Cause and a coalition of groups have put a major redistricting initiative on the ballot in November and are now urging voters to vote Yes on Prop 11, the California Voters FIRST Initiative.

California Common Cause Launches Redistricting Initiative to Put Voters First

California Common Cause has worked for years to change the process by which politicians currently draw their own political districts -- a process that in effect allows politicians to choose their voters before voters can choose among politicians.

These efforts took a big step forward today with the official launch of the Voters FIRST initiative. This ballot question, filed by Common Cause, AARP, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, will appear on the November 2008 ballot if enough Californians sign petitions to support it by next April.
Read the full text of the initiative here.

Today, the campaign received a big boost in receiving endorsements from the California League of Women Voters and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

States roundup

Common Cause is leading the charge on redistricting in California, campaign finance reform in Wisconsin and Nebraska, watchdogging in Georgia, and more. Check out the fruits of our ongoing labor around the country....

Texas to consider bipartisan redistricting?

Forgive me if today's posts seem rather Texas-centric - there was a lot of good stuff coming out of the Lonestar State's newspapers today! Also, I'm from Texas, and no one's stopping me.

From Dave McNeely of the Midland Reporter-Telegram, an excellent review of the redistricting mess Texas made headlines with, and also the potential for a bipartisan redistricting commission.

Redistricting by the Texas Legislature is seldom pretty.

But the massacre in congressional districting in 2003, besides being unnecessary, had all the subtlety of a multiple ax murder.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has been trying to put the chore of at least congressional redistricting with a bipartisan commission of non-elected officials since 1993. About a dozen other states have at least some of their redistricting performed by some body other than their legislature.

Wentworth says Texas doing so could save Texans millions of dollars in legal fees and costs of unnecessary legislative sessions, and avoid enormously bloody infighting that is a constant by-product of partisan redistricting.

The article spells out the obstacles, but it does seem like there's hope that Wentworth and his supportive colleagues (yes, there are a bunch of them) may eventually get their way. Here's hoping they do!

Reform Day is a Good Day for Abe Lincoln

The life of a legislative district is not usually particularly remarkable. I am New York State Senate District 51. People often say I look like Abe Lincoln riding a vacuum cleaner. When people come up to me and say that I usually thank them for comparing me to such a great man and we laugh at the fact that it's actually quite absurd since of course vacuums didn't exist in the 1860s. But there's something quite disturbing about all this that I have been keeping to myself.

DeLay's redistricting plan doesn't quite produce expected results

Democrats picked up a 30th House seat this week, and once again, it's all Tom DeLay's fault. This time, though, it's more than just his long list of scandals dragging down the Republican Party. This time, his direct actions may have cost the GOP the seat.

On Tuesday, former Representative Ciro Rodriguez (who'd lost his seat due to DeLay's mid-decade redistricting) narrowly beat incumbent Rep. Henry Bonilla in a runoff election, largely due to the redistricting that changed voter demographics. It was an unexpected win, and it certainly adds insult to injury to the disgraced DeLay.

The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing of congressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six House Democrats in the 2004 elections.

Two years later, DeLay's fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, as the redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOP majorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may well be a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state.

To those in the reform community who were dismayed to see the redistricting process being abused for partisan gain at the expense of fairness to voters, this is the cherry on top of the DeLay disgrace sundae.

CA Senate passes redistricting reform!

Yesterday the State Senate finally upheld its promise to hold a vote on SCA 3 - redistricting reform, passing the bill with a vote of 27-11. We applaud the Senators who had the courage to stand up for redistricting reform and give up their own power to draw districts. Or next step is to call Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (916-319-2046) to tell him the bill is not dead and he needs to schedule a hearing next week on SCA 3 - ideally, Tuesday August 22.