Revamp Redistricting

Editorial Board
Bradenton Herald
Sunday Jun 28, 2009

Stop political parties from 'rigging' elections

When citizens demand democracy through the ballot box, politicians have no choice but to listen. But when politicians draw up the boundaries for districts every decade, only the party matters.

Should a petition drive to place two constitutional amendments on the ballot succeed over the next seven months, Florida voters could change the way political districts are drawn up. Citizens could ensure greater fairness in the process.

Egregious gerrymandering would be banned. Safe seats could become competitive.

In the Sunshine State, the Legislature draws up and approves legislation on redistricting for U.S. representatives and state lawmakers. The political party in power holds sway. In effect, incumbent politicians — whether Democratic or Republican — pick their voters, not the other way around.

That would change with passage of the amendments.

With Florida poised to gain one or two seats in Congress following the 2010 Census — and fast-growing Lakewood Ranch considered a front-runner for one — the redistricting question becomes all the more important here.

With Republicans in control of both the Florida House and Senate, our own state Sen. Michael “Mike” Bennett expects to be selected to sit on the legislative committee that will draw up those political boundaries in 2011. The GOP also determined redistricting last time around.

Don’t expect Democrats to have much of a voice. Just like when Democrats controlled the Legislature, Republicans can be expected to keep a tight grip on power.

As required in the U.S. Constitution, this exercise occurs every 10 years once new Census figures are totaled.

A bipartisan organization called FairDistrictsFlorida.org is driving the campaign for both amendments. Their challenge is considerable — 676,811 petition signatures by Feb. 1, and then a 60-percent margin of victory in the November 2010 election.

The proposed amendments would ban boundaries that favor any party or incumbent or that deny equal opportunity for language or racial minorities. District lines would have to encompass existing geographic and political boundaries when achievable. The Legislature would still draw up districts, just under new rules. Plus, boundaries could be challenged in court. That public scrutiny would ensure greater fairness than today’s process.

Here’s how out of whack the current system is: Present law only requires that districts, all with roughly the same population, be contiguous — but the connection could be a thin strip of land or even across water.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor’s 11th District ropes in the downtowns of four cities — Tampa, St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Palmetto — and leaps across Tampa Bay twice to accomplish that. Do Tampa issues mirror those in Bradenton? Hardly.

State Rep. Darryl Rouson’s District 55 straddles Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and then funnels down through Manatee County into Sarasota, netting many minority neighborhoods.

Both of these districts isolate a large number of Democratic voters into single political entities, watering down the party’s power in neighboring districts so Republicans have favorable margins. Rouson even switched from Republican to Democrat in the last election to win office.

With the vast majority of Congressional District 11 voters residing on the other side of Tampa Bay, Castor is a rare presence in Bradenton — another good reason districts should be compact geographic and community entities, not meandering hither and yon that essentially robs voters of representation.

Both districts are the type of blatant gerrymandering that cry out for change in the way boundaries are determined.

The issue boils down to voters’ rights versus partisan power, communities versus parties, fair representation versus rigged outcomes. Join the petition drive by logging on to Fair DistrictsFlorida.org.