Republicans Favor Districting Initiative
(Thousand Oaks, CA) The Republican Party of California and two minor
parties have endorsed a
California initiative that would ban gerrymandering after the 2000
census. The Libertarian and Natural Law Parties, in unanimous votes,
expressed support for the 'Fair Vote 2K' proposal, which would
automate the districting process by creating electoral boundaries
solely on the basis of equal population and geographic compactness.
Republicans got behind the plan at their spring
convention last week, with the unanimous support of their Initiatives
Committee, affirming an earlier resolution. The resolution expresses the Party's
commitment to "fair and equal representation of all voters by
drawing election districts without regard to race, creed, color,
national origin or political affiliation." California College
Republicans and the Republican
Liberty Caucus have also endorsed the
proposal, which would place a Constitutional Amendment on the November
2000 ballot.
The Libertarian Party Executive Committee voted earlier this month to
endorse the plan. LPC Executive Director Juan Ros says the Fair Vote
2K plan "empowers
voters and enables smaller parties to challenge incumbents more
effectively." The proposal would prohibit the use of party
registration or previous voting history in the drawing of district
lines.
Natural Law Party executives offered their
support this week, describing the districting plan as "worthy of
support by every concerned voter." 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 take apportionment power away from legislators and
judicial councils by requiring the Secretary of State to execute a
specific set of instructions,
which would consider only population equality and compactness in
drawing all federal and state district boundaries.
Fair Vote 2K Coalition Director William Westmiller says he's delighted
with the endorsements. "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 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.
Endorsement proposals are being considered by the Reform Party, Common
Cause and the Committee for Proportional Representation. Westmiller
says he'll also
pursue support from local Democratic Councils and other civic
organizations.
- 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)
