In 2000, Arizonans voted to take the state legislature out of the redistricting process. They hoped to curb partisan gerrymandering by creating an independent, bipartisan commission that would handle the duty of redrawing state and federal voting districts after every Census.
The commission’s redistricting plan led to Democratic wins in 2012, which upset the GOP-controlled legislature. Republicans claimed that the whole process was unconstitutional because the founding fathers specifically commanded state legislatures to run elections.
They were referring to the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which reads as follows: