My Two Census

Below, check out The Palm Beach Herald’s editorial about putting an end to gerrymandering in the Sunshine State:

Monday, April 27, 2009

Time to end gerrymandering

Last November in Florida, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 650,000, Barack Obama got a record number of votes, but Republicans easily held their ironclad majority in the Legislature. In fact, only one incumbent state lawmaker lost in 2008.

How, you ask? The answer is gerrymandering.

Every 10 years, following the Census, state legislators must adjust the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts. The party in power invariably does so with an eye toward immunizing itself against competitive reelections for the next decade. The next round of redistricting is slated for 2011-12, but voters can reclaim their voice by placing the FairDistrictsFlorida.org constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot and then passing it.

The amendment would prohibit districts from being “drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party.” It would ensure that districts are not drawn to disenfranchise racial or language minorities. Districts would have to follow existing political and geographical boundaries when possible.

Not surprisingly, the only organized opposition to this proposal has come from members of the Legislature. Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, suggested that redistricting reform would give judges too much power over legislators, and that “elected officials are more responsive” to voters. But redistricting rules only have made legislators less beholden to the public. Sen. Haridopolos is in line to lead the next redistricting effort.

The FairDistrictsFlorida.org amendment needs approximately 676,000 signatures to qualify for the 2010 ballot. Ask yourself: should voters pick their elected officials, or should elected officials pick their voters?

Elected officials have good reason to want the 2010 Census counts of their constituencies to be as accurate, errr, or as high, as possible. Today’s MSNBC article uses Florida as a case study that shows how significant population increases result in additional federal funding and representation in Congress. As the article states, there will be “winners or losers in congressional apportionment based on the 2010 census.” This begs the question: What tricks do elected officials have up their sleeves to prevent reapportionment and the loss of federal funding in the event that Census results harm their constituencies?