Overview
Politicians have long used their power to redraw congressional districts in order to advance their own partisan agendas. Known as “gerrymandering,” it takes place when the majority party draws districts in such a way that the number of districts likely to support their party is maximized. The result is that the majority party wins far more seats than is justified by their actual share of the vote.
Neither party is innocent, for both have engaged in gerrymandering when they have controlled the legislature. In 2004, for example, Republicans gained 66% of the seats in the Texas congressional delegation, even though they only won 58% of the vote. In 1992, Democrats won 70% of the seats in the Texas congressional delegation, even though they only won 50% of the vote.
In a real democracy, the voters choose their representatives, not the other way around. Until we have a system which takes redistricting power out of the hands of politicians and returns it to the citizens, the people of Texas will continue to have their democratically-expressed wishes ignored.
The most important reform we are fighting for is the creation of a bi-partisan, non-political commission of citizens to handle redistricting, with strict conflict-of-interest provisions included in the legislation. Such commissions already exist in several other states and have performed extremely well. By removing the redistricting power from the legislature, districts are being drawn which better reflect the demographic and geographic realities of the state, rather than the partisan interests of the legislators.
Additionally, we are working for legislation that establishes basic criteria for redistricting plans. Chief among them is a requirement that redistricting plans never take into account political party affiliation or previous voting history in drawing up districts. The borders of existing political subdivisions, such as cities and towns, should be taken into consideration in any redistricting plan. Finally, to the extent possible, all districts should be compact and convenient, rather than the bizarre forms which one sees on current maps.
