From Tony Quinn’s article in the SacBee: “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and reform groups deserve credit for once again tackling the Gordian knot of redistricting reform. A proposal to remove the drawing of legislative districts from the Legislature and give the task to a nonpartisan commission will probably appear on the November ballot..” Continue Reading
Category Archives: Redistricting
2nd Major Democrat Gives to Voters First
This weekend saw the birth of an unusual partnership for redistricting reform: Angelo Tsakopoulos, the longtime financier of Phil Angelides’s campaigns, donated $25,000 to the Governor’s Voters First initiative. Tsakopoulos joins Reed Hastings as a major Democratic donor to the campaign. Angelides’ gubernatorial primary challenger Steve Westly is co-chair of the Voters First campaign, and… Continue Reading
Redistricting Updates
The following article is from our Spring, 2008 newsletter: California’s quest for redistricting reform took some interesting twists in recent months. Through them all the Rose Institute remains on the cutting edge of redistricting reform and education outreach. The blog has brought obscure reports to widespread public attention, including items on computerized redistricting algorithms, redistricting… Continue Reading
Nunez (again) Promises Redistricting Reform
In the Los Angeles Times Nancy Vogel has an article on Fabian Nunez’s latest attempts to reform the legislature. He hopes to put forward a package to adjust term limits, restrictions on when politicians can accept campaign contribution and the creation of a redistricting commission. As the article notes we have seen this act before.… Continue Reading
Two Redistricting Proposals for November?
The Voters First redistricting reform initiative is currently scheduled to appear on the November 2008 General Election ballot. With the new discussion of another possible proposal coming from the legislature it is helpful to look at what happened last time new reform measure were put on the same ballot. The Rose Institute report on redistricting… Continue Reading
Bloomberg Supports Voters First
New York City Mayor and former Democrat, now independent Michael Bloomberg has donated $250,000 to the Voters First redistricting reform initiative. Elizabeth Benjamin at the NY Daily News has the inside scoop with this quote from Bloomberg: “What (Schwarzenegger) is trying to do is to have a fair, non-political way of districting for elected officials,… Continue Reading
A Defense of those Defending Reform
John A. Smith has a posting at the California Progress Report defending Keeley and Panetta in their support of redistricting reform. Recently, a political consultant attacked Fred Keeley and Leon Panetta for their position in favor of the Independent Redistricting initiative. Whether you like the initiative or not, Keeley and Panetta are outstanding former lawmakers… Continue Reading
Voting Rights Act Criteria
Questions have come up on exactly what is the criteria under the Voting Rights Act that deals with redistricting. The Department of Justice summarizes Section 5 of the VRA here. This is an AP article regarding North Carolina is currently challenging certain provisions and the case is now at the Supreme Court. Also here is… Continue Reading
Voters First Redistricting Reform Update
Dan Weintraub on Governor Schwarzenegger and Proposition 77: …Schwarzenegger’s goal was noble: To end a system controlled by political insiders that has helped polarize the Legislature into warring camps of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. With district lines drawn to create safe seats for members of both parties, candidates for the Legislature merely have to… Continue Reading
Algorithmic Redistricting
Thanks to Shane Goldmacher of Capitol Alert for the link: Redistricting is an inherently political process, as the adage goes. So Brian Olson, a computer programmer whose Web site says he works for Google, designed a computer program to automatically draw district boundaries based on the principle that allows people to “have the lowest average… Continue Reading