Voters Consider Redrawing California District Lines
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) - Who should draw lines for California elections? That's a contentious subject that stood to be decided next week when votes were tallied on a pair of dueling initiatives, Proposition 20 and Proposition 27.
The Nov. 2 election would perhaps offer the definite word regarding the state's experiment in "citizen redistricting."
Doug Sovern's KCBS Campaign 2010 Cover Story:
Proposition 20 would expand on Proposition 11, which voters approved two years ago, setting up a citizen-based commission to re-draw California's legislative districts, instead of having lawmakers do it. Proposition 20 would let the commission draw the map for California's congressional districts, as well.
"The logic is why not just do the whole piece? The voters have said yes, the process is moving along fine, if they're going to put these district lines together let them do the full job," reasoned California Common Cause's Helen Grieco.
California Common Cause came out in favor of Proposition 20 and against Proposition 27, which would abolish the new commission altogether before any redistricting was done.
"It's a deceptive initiative, it confuses the voters," she argued against Proposition 27. "We want the voters to be very clear. We are for open and accountable and transparent government, this is a great commission. It's going to do a much better job and we want to make sure the voters know, say yes to 20, say no to 27, and let's have clean politics."
Political strategist Steve Maviglio encouraged voters to do just the opposite. He described the redistricting commission as a waste of time and money.
"We're spending millions of dollars in California that should be going for schools, highways and other programs on a political experiment. We're guinea pigs for something that has never been tried anywhere before to put in power people that are totally unaccountable to voters in charge of determining who we elect."
He claimed there was no evidence that the commission would improve the political process. He pointed out that drawing the lines based on the income level of voters would be unfair.
"Let's save the money, let's do it with accountability and start from scratch, and that's what Prop 27 does."
If both measures were approved by voters, the one with the most votes would take effect.
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