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Independent Commissions, Competitive Districts Best Path to Redistricting

Washington - Broad principles to reform congressional and legislative redistricting were announced today by a range of groups and individuals who are advocating the use of independent commissions to create competitive districts.

The principles were drafted by a group of experts with diverse backgrounds and political affiliations at a redistricting reform conference held last June in Airlie, Virginia. They are part of a report entitled The Shape of Representative Democracy and lay out an integrated approach that addresses both procedures for redistricting and standards for redistricting.

The procedural principles include: assigning the job of redistricting to an independent commission; ensuring transparency and a meaningful opportunity for interested parties and the public to participate effectively; and limiting redistricting to once a decade, following each census.

The recommended substantive standards for redistricting are: adhering to all constitutional and Voting Rights Act requirements; promoting competitiveness and partisan fairness; respecting political subdivisions and communities of interest; and encouraging geographical compactness.

"The Shape of Representative Democracy is an unusually wise and sophisticated report on redistricting reform," said Thomas Mann, a leading national expert on government at the Brookings Institution. "The report makes clear why redistricting reform is a reasonable place to begin changing the dynamic in our current politics and charts a course that will be instructive to reformers and interested citizens in states throughout the country."

According to Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, "The foundation of a free society is the accountability of its elected officials, and nowhere is that more true than in the House of Representatives. The Framers seriously considered one-year terms for the House, to make sure it would be responsive to the popular will. But now, because of the nature and shape of its districts, the House is close to losing the link of accountability -- we could be headed for an election where the public votes overwhelmingly for change, and nothing happens. For this reason, along with the many others, redistricting reform is an urgent and central requirement for revitalizing our democracy and civil society. These principles of redistricting provide the blueprint for necessary and desirable change."

Kay Maxwell, the president of the League of Women Voters, also applauded the report. "Redistricting reform goes to the heart of our democratic system of government. It is time to stop partisan redistricting and develop mechanisms to ensure fair results, so that elections determine the shape of our democracy. The League of Women Voters is committed to putting redistricting reform in place through citizen initiatives and state legislative action," she said.

The Airlie event was organized by the Campaign Legal Center and the Council for Excellence in Government, both Washington-based nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations. The conference examined the widespread practice of drawing congressional and legislative districts in ways that have virtually eliminated competitive seats in the U. S. House and so aggravated partisanship and polarization in American politics.

"Partisan misuse of redistricting procedures has resulted in a system in which legislators are choosing their voters, instead of the other way around," said Trevor Potter, a former FEC commissioner and chairman and president of the Campaign Legal Center. "This report is designed to set us on a non-partisan path toward rationalizing the process and enhancing competitiveness."

"Elevating competitiveness as a key goal of redistricting whenever practicable is central to reform," according to former Colorado Congressman David Skaggs, now Executive Director of the Center for Democracy & Citizenship at the Council for Excellence in Government. "Representatives from competitive districts are more likely to listen to the 'other side' and to be prepared to work out differences - essential behavior in solving the country's problems. Competitive districts also make for more meaningful elections, with choices that matter and that encourage people to vote."

The next phase of the group's work will be a second conference in February to begin the process of identifying a group of states that are ready to move toward non-partisan reform of their redistricting procedures.

To read the report, click here.

The redistricting conference was organized by the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Democracy & Citizenship at the Council for Excellence in Government. The project was funded by generous support by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Council for Excellence in Government's Venture Fund, the JEHT Foundation, the Reform Institute and the Educational Testing Service.

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