2010 Voter Education
By Jocco Baccus, President
The Learning Tree, Inc.
The U.S. Census Bureau has a hard deadline of December 31, 2010 to deliver the state population counts to the country. By that same deadline, they are also charged with the task of doing the arithmetic of determining how many seats in the House of Representatives each state should have. That announcement has many folks awaiting the results of the 2010 Census. Researchers and demographers especially state legislatures in all 50 states will feast on the details of the data released.
Some of the most important contests this fall will be way down the ballot, state legislative races. Control of the state legislature matters because that will determine which party controls redrawing congressional district lines after this year's census report is released, redistricting also has huge financial implications.
What is redistricting? Simply said, it’s a process that divides voters into districts the controlling political party thinks it can win. After redistricting, incumbents often face significant numbers of new voters—voters that were previously in a different incumbent's district.
Census population data can be manipulated by looking at past voter patterns that favor the majority party thus creating an opportunity to increase the majority voting strength, each potential configuration of political boundaries has social (and political) implications for representation.
It comes as no surprise that tens of millions have and will be spent on state legislative races nationwide. The power to reapportion rests with the legislative authority.
The redistricting process evokes major questions about representative democracy, fairness, and political accountability. Redistricting in America is rotten. Across the country, for elections of every level, district lines are drawn in such a way that fundamental democratic values are subverted.
Locally, county commissions, school boards and city councils are creatures of the state. As such, the best evidence suggests that the same standards that apply to states also apply to local government. Without a firm understanding of what representation should mean, meaningful discussions of this important idea to redistricting will be limited.
It is very easy to be blasé about your right to vote and take a "whatever, who cares" kind of attitude about it but you shouldn't brush this great honor off so quickly. Regardless of the political environment, it is the responsibility of voters to take initiative in becoming politically involved.
“He who controls redistricting can control Congress”
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