“Editorial: Put an end to political gerrymandering”
Roanoke Times/ Thursday, November 08, 2007
A divided General Assembly presents a chance to unite the parties to draw fairer district boundaries. Voters in a handful of "competitive" districts held an awesome power that turned Senate leadership over to the Democrats and whittled the Republican majority in the House. The Republican losses should be enough to convince their delegates that the best way to protect the party is to join with Democrats in adopting a nonpartisan method of redistricting.
Virginia will be required to draw new legislative and congressional districts following the 2010 Census. As it stands, the party that holds the power in Richmond will draw the lines to create "safe" districts that protect their seats. The process is so skewed toward incumbency and majority protection that voters in 120 of the 140 Senate and House races had little choice Tuesday but to endorse a lone candidate or not vote at all.
It isn't fair or, for that matter, representative democracy when representatives choose voters instead of the other way.
Further, when political parties lock up districts, they tend to produce polarized officeholders who have no need to appeal to moderates or voters from the other party.
The opportunity exists now to correct this wrong, but it must be seized in the upcoming session to accomplish anything in time to affect the next round of redistricting.
The Senate understood that Virginia needs to move toward a bipartisan method (we'd prefer a nonpartisan method, but that doesn't seem likely). Last session, both sides of the aisle supported a constitutional amendment that would create a 13-member commission with six members appointed by each party. The final member would be appointed mutually by both parties or, if they failed, by a court.
House Republicans -- smug in their majority and their protected districts, and still smarting from Democrats' refusal to create a similar commission when they had the power -- killed the bill.
They should reconsider. Even better, House Republicans could demonstrate they aren't entrenched ideologues more interested in their narrow political interests than the people's business and take the lead in joining with the Senate to adopt a bill that would gain the governor's support.
To do anything less might in three years' time leave Republicans completely on the outs, wishing that they hadn't squandered this opportunity.
"A Chance for Common Sense”
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