Governor Unveils Re-Districting Map for Utah
None by KCPW
"Must be fair and bi-partisan," says Huntsman
(KCPW News) Governor Huntsman has released a set of maps that draw new lines for Utah's congressional districts, including a proposed fourth seat. Congress is set to debate the issue this week. Governor's spokesman Mike Mower says Huntsman wanted to get the first map on the table to prove he's serious about leading the effort:"The Governor pledge to Congress that he would move forward in a fair and bi-partisan fashion," says Mower. "We feel as people take a look at this map they'll see that it is fair and that there is no undue partisan advantage."
Mower says the map was drawn with the intent of keeping counties in one piece and being fair to all three incumbents - especially Democrat Jim Matheson in District Two. Matheson would lose his Southern Utah region, but pick up all of Salt Lake City, Summit and Morgan Counties, as well as the northern half of Salt Lake County.
While Matheson has not endorsed the map, Mower says the Governor is confident he will find it fair:
"We're bringing in traditionally democratic areas like Park City, Salt Lake City, Magna, West Valley City," says Mower. "If there were any district on this map that leaned Democratic it would be the 2nd District."
If adopted, the map would require all three incumbents to run in a special election next year, along with candidates for the new fourth seat. The state legislature must also approve the boundaries, but Mower says Huntsman has been clear that he will not approve any map that gives unfair advantage to any political party.
Click here to download a map of the Governor's proposed districts.
Map of Governor's Proposed Districts
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and Election Coverage. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Rob Latham said:
“We are in the business of rigging elections.”
–Former State Senator Mark McDaniel (R-North Carolina) while commenting on drawing legislative districts
Single-member districts can be either competitive or representative, but they can’t be both. And because drawing such districts involves including some voters and excluding others, any single-member districts is inherently gerrymandered. Single-member districts also result in many wasted votes and cheat Utahns out of fair representation.
The solution is the creation of four at-large districts elected by proportional representation. That way, Republicans and other non-Democratic voters won’t be orphaned in the proposed Second Congressional District — the obvious Democratic seat. And Democratic and other non-Republican voters won’t be orphaned in the proposed First, Third, and Fourth Congressional Districts — the obvious Republican seats.
Setting aside the separate federal constitutional problem of apportioning a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives to the District of Columbia, if Utah’s Constitution allows the creation of a statewide at-large congressional district under H.R. 5388 I.H., then it also allows the creation of of four at-large seats elected by proportional representation, which would avoid the orphaning problem, prevent gerrymandering, and result in a much closer fit between voter preferences and representation.
The federal statute (2 U.S.C. 2c) requiring single-member congressional districts would have to be modified or repealed, but H.R. 5388 I.H. already repeals a significant amount of existing federal law. All this solution lacks is the will of the U.S. Congress and the Utah Legislature to play fair.
U.S. soldiers are in currently harm’s way to to implement proportionally representative, multi-party democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The two incumbent political parties should start competing and stop cheating the majority of Utahns -- who aren't affiliated with either Democrats or Republicans -- out of the fair representation that American troops are fighting for overseas.
Rob Latham, Chairman
Libertarian Party of Utah
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