Gerrymandering redux

[This article was co-written with retired attorney Jay Simpson.]
Arizona is unlikely to follow Texas in its mid-decade redistricting (the latter is now in the courts), particularly since our Republican-dominated legislature must contend with a Democratic governor. Our state’s approach to setting district maps is better than some others, but it could be improved further, reducing the chance for gerrymandering.

But what is a gerrymander?

It’s not a state map with oddly shaped districts.  Simply shaped districts can still disenfranchise voters, and complex ones can be fair. What makes a map gerrymandered are its consequences – did the mapping unfairly depress the electoral impact of a political party or of a minority group? If so, it is a gerrymander. 

Other states may end up following Texas with a mid-decade gerrymander. Federal Law doesn’t prohibit redrawing district maps more than once every ten years. However, at any time, doing this to deprive voters of electing the candidates of their choice is anti-democratic, and when done for partisan or racial advantage, it is simply wrong.California has reacted to the Texas action with its own gerrymander. This may be a practical response to roughly preserve the national partisan balance for those two large states, but it is a step that we hope can be reversed in the future. Still, we prefer it to the Texas action: it is explicitly temporary, and it required a vote by the people of California. For Texas, it was a classic case of legislators choosing their voters. This is the opposite of what should happen!

What is our redistricting history in Arizona?

For three census cycles, the Arizona state legislature failed to adopt maps that could withstand constitutional and statutory scrutiny.  In 1971 the state legislative maps passed by the legislature were held unconstitutional because they split the Navajo reservation into three legislative districts. In 1981, the legislature passed a plan that split the San Carlos Apache reservation into three legislative districts and three congressional districts. The legislature’s maps failed to gain preclearance from the Department of Justice (as then required by the Voting Rights Act) and was invalidated by a three-judge federal panel. In 1991 the state legislature was split, with a Democratic Senate majority and a Republican House majority. They could not agree on a set of maps.  Their failure to enact maps left it to the Federal court to do it.  

It is not an overstatement to suggest that the Arizona State Legislature failed for four decades to adopt maps that could satisfy constitutional standards. In reaction to that ineptitude, there was a bipartisan proposition (Prop 109) to create an Independent Redistricting Commission. The change was approved as an amendment to our state constitution in 2000.Despite this improvement, there still have been court battles over the choices of each of the first two commissions. And while there were no suits over the 2021 maps, there were still significant controversies. 

There are still problems with Arizona’s redistricting

In our view, there was still some gerrymandering in 2021, and a missed opportunity to create more competitive districts. And Arizona’s single independent commissioner is not a great match to the proportion of independent voters. With the other four commissioners evenly divided by party, the IRC’s final decisions are overwhelmingly being made by a single person, its Chair. The current method for choosing our IRC members has significant potential for abuse. A clearer emphasis on competitive districts (which promote citizen engagement in our elections) would be preferable. 

Despite flaws we see in the current Arizona redistricting process, having an independent commission is vastly preferable to alternatives elsewhere in the nation. 

Ultimately, some Federal guidelines would be best, such as the requirement for independent commissions that was part of the “Freedom to Vote Act” (introduced in 2019 and again in 2021). Unless and until there is such an action, it will be up to each state to improve the process.

And given the current national situation, we need to prevent redistricting from getting worse. 

Democracy needs our support.