Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule soon if a states can have completely independent redistricting commissions established under state law or only the state legislatures can draw the boundaries.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-California) has introduced H.R.2173 - Redistricting Reform Act of 2015, which would require all states that have more than one member of the U.S. House to have independent redistricting commissions to draw U.S. House district boundaries. It has 27 co-sponsors so far, all of them Democrats.
The Commission in each state would have 12 members. Four would be members of the largest party, four would be members of the second-largest party, and four would be all other voters. The chair would be a member of the latter group. The commissions could not consider the voting history of any region of the state, nor the party registration data, when they draw the lines. Also they could not take into account the residence of any incumbent member of Congress.
This bill would still be constitutional because the same part of the U.S. Constitution (Article One, section four) gives Congress the power to override state election laws concerning congressional elections.
CLICK HERE to read the bill.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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