Alliance Party of Nevada: Taking the politics out of political districts

As Steve Selelius points out, when somebody proposes a change that neither Democrats nor Republicans like, you might want to take a closer look. That "somebody" might be on to something.

In this case, the League of Women Voters of Nevada have proposed a ballot initiative to take the redrawing of electoral district boundaries away from the Nevada legislature and put it in the hands of an independent commission charged with redrawing electoral boundaries according to independent criteria. Neither side likes it but the Democrats, after decades out of power, are particularly choked with losing their chance to tilt the playing field back their way.

At the Federal level, Nevada isn't the worst offender when it comes to gerrymandering. By virtue of its small population (few districts), the location of major cities and the shape of the state it doesn't come off as bad as Maryland or North Carolina.. Christopher Ingraham has catalogued some of the worst offenders, several of which are shown below.

Interestingly, he points out that the aim of gerrymandering isn't to build bullet-proof constituencies for the incumbents.

Contrary to one popular misconception about the practice, the point of gerrymandering isn't to draw yourself a collection of overwhelmingly safe seats. Rather, it's to give your opponents a small number of safe seats, while drawing yourself a larger number of seats that are not quite as safe, but that you can expect to win comfortably.

The Alliance Party of Nevada wholeheartedly supports the ballot initiative to place redistricting in the hands of an independent commission. Gerrymandering is undemocratic and self-serving, cheapening the vote of citizens in affected districts. If you'd like to do something about this, why not help the League of Women Voters of Nevada get this question on next fall's ballot