Make elections more competitive with redistricting

Mercury News (CA)

February 09, 2006

Creating an independent system for designing political districts not only would be good in principle; it would be good for competition, too. More Republicans and Democrats would have a chance to win congressional and Assembly races that one or the other party has had a lock on.

That's the conclusion of a new analysis by a University of California-Berkeley institute. It's one more reason to pursue redistricting reform.

We've written before about the efforts by good-government groups and legislators, led by state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach , to revive redistricting since the defeat of the governor's Proposition 77 in November. Under the current system, in which the legislators get to gerrymander boundaries to suit themselves, virtually all races in the 52 congressional districts have been a shoo-in for one party or the other (and there are no term limits), and only a few Assembly or state Senate seats have been in play.

Even after redistricting, Democrats, who substantially outnumber Republicans in the state, would retain a majority of Assembly and congressional seats. But the Institute of Government Studies found that 12 to 14 congressional seats and 12 to 17 Assembly seats, out of 80, would probably have competitive races, based on party registrations. That's actually more than many observers have projected. (The study didn't analyze state Senate boundaries.)

In drawing the lines, the institute used objective and logical criteria that groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters have recommended: ensuring equal populations, complying with the federal Voting Rights Act, using city and county boundaries -- and not competitiveness per se.

Redistricting reform could give moderates a leg up on ideologues. Reflexive conservatives and liberals, who dominate the Legislature, would have a harder time winning in more competitive districts.

Political moderation isn't an explicit aim of reform, but it would be a welcome benefit.

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opinion to read the full redistricting report by UC-Berkeley's Institute of Government Studies .