Time for redistricting reform

THE BATTLE for Congress is in the spotlight, but both parties are also spending millions of dollars on state legislative races and gubernatorial campaigns. The reason is simple: the redistricting that will follow the 2010 Census. The party that controls those state positions will determine the shape of congressional districts. It should not be that way.

As then-Sen. Barack Obama explained in 2006, "too often, our representatives are selecting their voters, as opposed to the voters selecting the representatives. That is a situation that I think the American people should not accept." Congressional districts gerrymandered into safe seats exacerbate partisanship and extremism; candidates who can take the general election for granted and need attend only to winning the primary nomination will inevitably be pushed to the outer edges of their parties. Meanwhile, uncontested general elections discourage citizen engagement and entrench incumbents. Again, Mr. Obama: "We should seriously consider, on a state-by-state basis, moving away from partisan gerrymandering because I think it discourages the kind of robust debate that we need to have. If people feel like this is a 90 percent Democratic district or a 90 percent Republican district, then at a certain point folks start opting out of the process."

Measures on the ballot in California and Florida - two states with the least competitive elections in the country - would help fix the problem. Two years ago, Californians amended the state constitution to transfer responsiblity for drawing state legislative districts from lawmakers to an independent, nonpartisan commission. Next week, voters will consider two competing measures. One, Proposition 20, would expand the duties of the Citizens Redistricting Commission to include drawing congressional district lines. The other, Proposition 27, would be an unfortunate step in the opposite direction, abolishing the commission altogether, on the dubious claim that the state can't afford the commission because of its fiscal crisis. Shamefully, the state's leading Democrats are behind the push for Proposition 27; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 17 other Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation each contributed at least $10,000 to the cause.

In Florida, two ballot initiatives would take a smaller but still useful step toward removing politics from legislative line-drawing. They would amend the state constitution - a 60 percent vote is required - to impose rules on the politicians drawing state legislative and congressional districts.

Under the measure, districts could not be drawn to favor incumbents or a particular political party. As much as possible, they would have to be compact and follow existing local and geographical boundaries. You only have to take a look at the current map - the 3rd Congressional District meanders through parts of nine counties - to know how much of an improvement that would be.