Time for a New Line on Redistricting

According to the Jan. 1 story, “Gov. to Call for Special Session,” “Democrats contend that there is no way to depoliticize redistricting, even if the job is given to retired judges.” Depoliticizing the redistricting process is absurdly simple if the politicians really desired that.

Redistricting should be a strict mathematical process. Modern computers and census databases could solve the problem in a few minutes. Of course, this will never happen as long as the legislators would rather waste taxpayers’ money by spending vast amounts of time better applied to useful purposes than to devise blatantly politicized districts to assure their reelection.

Danny G. Miller

Bellflower

*

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s inclination to make redistricting nonpartisan should be embraced. One of the only states with nonpartisan districting is Iowa, whose five congressional districts regularly see three or four closely contested races each election cycle. Partisan districting also has the effect of reducing the number of moderates from either party to the benefit of blind ideology on both sides. Most Americans are not to the left or to the right, but our redistricting decisions have left the vast majority without a truly representative voice in Washington. California’s role as bellwether would speed this country away from the chasm we now have and toward a more democratic and reasoned America.

Tom Bourdeaux

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

*

The first rule of redistricting should be, all voters in a city or community should be in the same district. Under the current boundaries, if you live in Van Nuys, you could be in the 40th or 42nd Assembly District. In the Sunland-Tujunga area, one side of Foothill Boulevard is in Brad Sherman’s 27th congressional district; the other side is in Howard Berman’s 28th.

It is bad government, bad policy and bad democracy. Under the governor’s plan, three retired judges, not the Legislature, would draw the boundaries every 10 years. It may not be perfect, but I urge our legislators to support it.

Al Sheahen

Sherman Oaks