the-gerry-mander-1.jpgThe chance to change the way districts are drawn should be a dead letter by now, though, in California as elsewhere. A ballot initiative to take district-drawing chores out of the hands of legislators went down in the anti-initiative blood bath on November 8. It was the fourth time that Californians had rejected a redistricting reform initiative in recent years. Ohio voters beat an analogous measure by an even greater margin.
Nevertheless, revamping redistricting remains a grail for political reformers. In trying to convince voters that changing redistricting rules will solve most political ills, they've come to believe this themselves. (Juliet Eilperin laid out in the Washington Post the post-election arguments about why reform is still urgent.)
We'll likely see more initiatives in places like Florida and Michigan next year. And now New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has embraced the idea of appointing an impartial redistricting commission as his latest cause. Spitzer promises to push the issue if he is elected governor next year, and vows to veto any legislative lines that promote partisan interests rather than good old small-d democracy.
New York's sclerotic legislature--made up of an eternally-Republican Senate and forever-Democratic Assembly--could certainly use a shake-up. Yet Spitzer, if he gets the chance, will likely find that redistricting reform is a tough sell. Promoters of the idea oversell its promise of bringing about a political paradise.
MORE FROM GOVERNING: Monster Maps (October, 2005)
