voters guide 2004
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Issue 4:

Issue 4 Certified Ballot Language

Issue 4 Ballot Board Explanation and Argument FOR

Issue 4 Ballot Board Argument AGAINST

League Explanation:

This proposal is intended to address a lack of bipartisan input in redistricting/reapportionment for both Congressional and legislative districts. It would replace the current Apportionment Board, which consists of partisan elected officials, by providing for creation of an independent redistricting commission. It specifies that competitive districts (between the two major political parties) should be created whenever possible. The new process would allow any person or organization to submit a redistricting plan for consideration by the commission. This proposal also would authorize elections based on the new redistricting plan in the year following its adoption. Thereafter, redistricting would occur only following the federal decennial census.

League Pros:

  1. This new process is designed to remove partisan politics from the redistricting process by allowing any person or organization to submit a redistricting plan for adoption by an independent redistricting commission.
  2. The creation of competitive districts would restore a meaningful voice to voters by allowing them a choice of candidates, and would end the recent phenomenon of elections being decided by the primary instead of the general election.
  3. The need to be elected from competitive districts should moderate the positions of candidates who, without competition, tend to represent the extremes of their parties’ positions.

 

League Cons:

  1. Competitiveness would be the primary consideration in designing new districts, and could infringe on the rights of minority voters to elect representatives of their choice.
  2. The provision delineating membership on the independent redistricting commission is so restrictive that members will not be easily found, and may unconstitutionally restrict political participation by members.
  3. The boundaries for competitive districts may not, in the end, look that much different from current gerrymandered districts. If standards such as compactness and other criteria established by the U.S. Supreme Court are not followed, the plan could be subject to judicial challenge.


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