Via Daily Kos, a blog run by the National Journal reports that an anti-gerrymandering proposal may be headed to the Florida ballot this November.
FL’s district lines are among the nation’s most convoluted and incumbents enjoy a decided advantage over would-be opponents.
The Committee for Fair Elections is sponsoring the ballot petition drive. The group says they’re bipartisan, although most of its coalition members are center-left, including Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, not to mention very prominent Dems, including ex-Rep. Carrie Meek and ex-Sen. Bob Graham. GOPers include ex-comptroller Bob Milligan and Bush ‘41 fundraiser/lawyer Thom Rumberger.
Redistricting is becoming more popular in theory; voters don’t seem to like partisan meddling.
But process-reform ballot initiatives often fail, in part because the language used to describe them is so complicated. And it’s unclear whether most Republican-leaning voters in the state are all that unhappy about their party entrenching its control of legislative districts. (Dem leaders in DC are wary of the idea, too. They don’t want to mess with their own incumbency privileges.)
The article picks up a good point — one of the problems of the initiative process is that the implications of gerrymandering are difficult to explain to average Americans without their eyes glazing over…not to mention that the majority likes seeing their guys win.
It just makes you want to go out and wield a clue-by-four sometimes…..