Libertarians Want Fair Vote 2K
(Thousand Oaks, CA) The Libertarian Party of California has endorsed
an initiative that would ban gerrymandering in California. In a
unanimous vote, the state Executive Committee expressed its support
for the Fair Vote 2K' plan, which would automate the districting
process by creating electoral boundaries solely on the basis of equal
population and geographic compactness.- "By creating electoral districts in an equal manner," says
LPC Executive Director Juan Ros, "Fair Vote 2K empowers voters
and enables smaller parties to challenge
incumbents more effectively." The proposal would forbid the use
of party registration or voting history in the drawing of district
lines after the 2000 census.
Ros says the current method of redrawing districts is "arbitrary,
unfair and blunts the impact of challengers."
Election experts estimate that the computerized system would result in
a 20 to 30 percent increase in the number of competitive electoral
districts in the state. "Fair Vote 2K would prevent entrenched
incumbents and power-grabbing politicians from drawing districts in a
way that helps keep them in power," says Ros.
The initiative proposal is currently circulating petitions to qualify
for the November 2000 ballot. Over 670,000 signatures are required to
qualify the state Constitutional amendment.
Fair Vote 2K Coalition Director William Westmiller says he's delighted
with the LPC endorsement. "This is not a partisan proposal. It's
a simple, objective and clean method of drawing fair districts that
will earn support from all fair-minded voters."
Westmiller says a computer program that would draw equal and compact
districts can be run on any home computer. "In a few hours,"
he says, "any voter in
California can verify that the Secretary of State has complied with
the initiative requirements. He says the program will be provided on
the Fair Vote 2K Coalition
website free of charge.
The endorsement comes on the heals of a similar vote from libertarians
active in the Republican Party. Officials of the Republican Liberty
Caucus California
endorsed the plan unanimously last week. Supporting resolutions from
the Reform, Natural Law and Democratic Party are being considered by
party officials.
- End -
William Westmiller
Author, Fair Vote 2K
westmiller@aol.com
(805) 493-4332 hm
(805) 373-0596 wk
Fair Vote 2K Coalition
44 Summerfield Street
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
Info@FairVote2K.org
Addenda
Initiative Copy (2 pages)
Op-Ed Commentary (2 pages)
