Some Thoughts on Independent Redistricting Commissions

Last week I had the good fortune to attend a public forum in Lexington on the redistricting process in Massachusetts.  The forum’s attendees were acutely aware of the importance of redistricting to the effectiveness of their representation on multiple levels of government, as well as the potential for foul play in the process - particularly on the issue of gerrymandering.

By engaging in partisan gerrymandering, public officials artificially redraw legislative districts so as to maximize their party’s interests instead of accurately reflecting the interests of the communities in question.  As a protection against this dangerous practice, a number of states across the country have decided to put control of the redistricting process in the hands of an independent commission.  These independent redistricting commissions ensure that the people running for these districts are not the same people drawing them, a practice that subverts the democratic process such that candidates select voters instead of voters selecting candidates. 

Among the panelists at the forum in Lexington was the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Redistricting Rep. Michael Moran (D-Brighton), who is a staunch opponent of independent redistricting commissions.  When pressed on his position by a number of the forum’s attendees, Moran claimed that he opposes independent commissions on the grounds that the district maps they produce face just as many legal challenges as the maps drawn by state legislatures. 

If we take Rep. Moran’s point of view and use the quantity of lawsuits per redistricting cycle as a barometer for the fairness of the districts, independent commissions actually come out looking pretty good:

In the six states that used independent commissions to oversee redistricting a decade ago (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, Missouri, and Montana), none of the maps they produced resulted in more than a handful of lawsuits, if any.  And in the states in which there were lawsuits, there were no charges of partisan gerrymandering.

When state legislatures controlled redistricting last decade, the results were much more mixed.  In states like Alabama, Illinois, and Texas charges of partisan gerrymandering were rampant and each of these states faced lawsuits numbering in the double digits. 

Last time there were four lawsuits filed in Massachusetts against the state legislature’s redistricting plan, which was more than the number of challenges filed against any of the plans submitted by independent commissions.  If the people of Massachusetts want to reduce the number of legal challenges to their legislative districts, next time they may want to look to an independent commission.