By John Titus
PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. | In October 2023, a federal judge ordered the Georgia legislature to redraw state legislative and congressional districts for the 2024 election. The legislature did so, and the governor signed the bill. As of this writing the judge has not ruled whether the new map is acceptable.
Titus
Independent Redistricting Commissions (IRC) are a recent innovation designed to end gerrymandering by empowering non-political actors to draw fair lines to represent the interests of the public rather than the politicians. The aim is to allow voters to choose their politicians rather than the politicians choose what they want their district to look like. As of 2020, twenty states use some form of non-partisan or bipartisan redistricting commissions to draw their district lines.
David Imamura, a member of New York’s commission, studied various forms and operating procedures of commissions across the country. Not all are successful. An article he wrote described the conditions he believed necessary for success.
- Commissions cannot be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. These will most likely fail. California is an example of a successful one. Its commission is composed of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 4 commissioners from neither party. Those 4 can serve as tiebreakers.
- Commissions should not be merely advisory; their decisions should be final. Many states allow legislatures to override the decisions of the commissions.
- Commission members should not be elected officials or political appointees. For example, in California the State Auditor solicits applicants from the public, reviews applications, interviews potential applicants and then conducts a lottery to select the final members.
Imamura also advocates a national solution which would involve setting national standards for creating IRCs.
I have been interested in fair elections and voting for years. Shortly after I began my career as a Federal civil servant, I was sent on temporary additional duty as a Voting Rights Observer to help enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I observed elections in Clarksdale and Holly Springs, Miss., Selma, Alla. and another city in South Carolina. Ever since I have been wary of election laws claiming to increase election security or respond to court orders. Asking the majority party, Democrats or Republicans, in a state to draw fair district lines goes against their desire to win. As a result I’m in favor of effective IRCs.
Let’s draw fair district lines, have candidates present their positions on issues, and see who wins.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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