(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/05/2022) (DENVER) - Harsh critiques of redistricting maps nationwide may be less about the actual maps and more about a lack of trust along party lines, a National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) panel discussed this week.
Douglas Spencer, a University of Colorado associate law professor, said development towards non-legislative bodies drawing districts is “an experiment” that won’t be tested until election results are in.
“Nobody’s voted yet under these new maps, so we don’t know who’s won yet,” he said, addressing the frequent complaints seen across the country of partisan gerrymandering during redistricting.
Spencer said states are getting some initial information from their primaries, but the general election will yield far more insight.
During Michigan's primary, 13th District Congressional redistricting factored into results that make it highly unlikely Detroit will have a Black member of Congress and ensure Democrats will not be sending a Black Detroiter to D.C.
Instead, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit) won the seat with 28% of the vote over Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit), who got 23%. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D) defeated three other Black candidates to reclaim the Democratic nomination in MI-12.
Republicans have the potential to send two Black men to Congress.
Redistricting also pitted U.S Rep. Haley Stevens (D) against fellow incumbent Rep. Andy Levin (D) when Stevens was drawn into MI-10 and moved to MI-11, where most of her district was drawn. Levin stayed in MI-11, though a majority of his district moved to MI-10. Both reps chose to run in MI-11, and Levin was beaten out.
In other states like Ohio, the Redistricting Commission has been sued three times and the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down three sets of redistricting maps.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, commissioners failed to comply with the state constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.
But despite the concerns about unfair maps, Spencer said the success of redistricting depends less on the maps themselves and more on bipartisan trust.
“Where it works well, it doesn’t seem that the districts work better,” he said. “It’s that people have more trust in each other.”
Spencer went on to add that where redistricting breaks down isn’t because of geography or politics, but because partisans lack trust in each other.
There is no such thing as an ideal district, he said, and whether commissions draw a competitive district or a majority Republican or Democratic one, neither is perfect and both depend on representation.
“Obviously politics play a role, and obviously racism plays a role,” he said, “but we’re in the middle of a constant debate each decade as to how we want to be represented.”
This debate could be made more challenging as the federal court has decided not to take on more partisan gerrymandering cases, said panel moderator Ben Williams.
But other states like Colorado are attempting independent redistricting commissions with successful results.
Julie Marie Shepherd Macklin, former commissioner of the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission, said the commission worked hard to create fair maps after more than 70% of voters voted to take redistricting away from the legislature.
Macklin said that in addition to equal partisan representation, the commission was required to have representation from different parts of the state.
They were also required to hold 21 public hearings throughout the redistricting process, Macklin said.
“But we ultimately decided that was not sufficient, given the geography and the diversity of our state,” she said, adding that large areas of Colorado that were underpopulated only received three hearings, the same number as smaller urban areas with higher population densities.
The decision resulted in more than 40 public hearings held across the state last summer, she said, something that was critical to getting the process right.
In 2022, Michigan’s Redistricting Commission allocated $90,000 for travel costs in their $5,308,900 budget. It held a total of 21 public hearings during the process, but solicited volumes of written public comment.
