When a pair of America's leading mathematical societies met in early January, the attending mathematicians devised a fun exercise for themselves -- they tried to choose the funniest-looking legislative district map in America.
Slate magazine reports that they couldn't pick a winner. There were too many really funny-looking districts.
The not-so-funny news locally, however, is that North Carolina's 12th U.S. House district, which is represented by Rep. Mel Watt, was a finalist. And North Carolina had four of the 20 most gerrymandered, and thus funniest-looking, district maps in the country.
As the General Assembly begins its work in Raleigh, there is one honorable endeavor it could undertake to restore public confidence in government. Legislators could hand redistricting duties to an independent commission.
North Carolina's legislative and congressional districts look so funny because legislators draw the maps to suit their own political needs. Legislators, in effect, pick their constituents, rather than voters picking their legislators.
Loading reams of demographic and voting-pattern data into high-powered computer programs, legislative aides draw maps that give their bosses political advantage. The complexity of the equipment and data allow maps to be jury-rigged, or gerrymandered, down to the precinct level.
The resulting districts heavily favor one party or the other. The goal is to create a permanent majority of districts for the ruling party.
Before the 2008 vote, Congressional Quarterly said that 324 of the 435 U.S. House districts are drawn to assure one-party dominance. Democrats were almost certain to win 200 of the seats and Republicans 124. And all but a few of the remaining districts lean heavily toward one party or the other. Our 12th district is designed for a Democratic victory, the 5th district for a Republican win.
The result is noncompetitive elections.
The best road back to competitive elections for both the U.S. Congress and the two houses of the General Assembly is independent redistricting. A nonpartisan commission would draw maps according to redistricting standards laid out in a state Supreme Court ruling. Only voter registration and demographic data that had been stripped of party references would go into the computer programs.
It's not too late to implement such a system. If legislation were approved this year, the commission's structure could be outlined in a constitutional amendment and put before the state's voters in 2010. The commission could draw the maps in 2011, and they'd be in use during the 2012 elections.
It would be an honorable thing for legislators to do, and one that would return fair and competitive elections to this state.
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