THE ROANOKE TIMES

OPINION

Take raw politics

out of redistricting

 

A proposed Virginia districting Commission could level

the playing field arid make the parties more responsive.

EVERY 10 years, the dominant party in Virginia gets a windfall. New census figures are used to redraw electoral lines, allowing the legisla­tive majority to stack and shift dis­tricts in its favor.

Democrats used such power to great effect in their day. Republicans returned the favor two years ago.

Properly handled, however, redis­tricting should simply ensure fair representation by accounting for population shifts. Current practice results in anything but fairness. In­stead it enables parties to seize dis­proportionate power, as the GOP did in the Virginia House, or remain in power after voter preference has shifted, as Democrats managed in the 1990’s.

Constitutional amendments that Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, will propose this session could help steer redistricting to its proper purpose by turning it over to a bipartisan com­mission. The objectives of the amendments deserve favorable con­sideration.

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The proposed 13-member Virgin­ia Redistricting Commission would blend the practices of other states.

Two members would be appointed by the Senate president, two by the House speaker, two by the minority leaders in each house, two by each party’s state chairman and a 13th chosen by majority vote of the oth­ers.

The configuration might not be perfect, but it at least provides some check on majority party power.

The benefits of a commission would go beyond truer representa­tion of voter sentiment. Without cyni­cally manipulated reapportionments, competition could intensify. Parties would have to be more responsive to voters’ demands. Dominant or seem­ingly perpetual legislative majorities would be easier to overturn if, as often happens, they become compla­cent, out of touch or corrupt.

Such measures have been pro­posed before. Republicans now have as little incentive as the Democrats did a decade ago to support change. But voters — and they’re the ones who count — have every incentive to demand a reform more likely to com­pel their political leaders to listen to them.