Stop Legislators From Drawing Districts
Letter to the Editor

By Rob Noblin
Published December 15th 2003 in Los Angeles Times
"First There Was the Recall, Now We Need the Revamp," by Ted Costa (Commentary, Dec. 11), diagnoses accurately a fundamental problem in California's politics. Incumbents in the Legislature have made their races noncompetitive by drawing the lines for the districts in which they run. But Costa's proposed cure is unlikely to work. Even having retired judges draw district lines would leave many races uncompetitive in areas where one party or the other dominated.

Instead, we should make every California legislative race competitive overnight by adopting a simple and time-tested method used by most advanced democracies. We should adopt a system of full representation, wherein legislators run in large districts — or even statewide — and voters select a number of winners, not just one. Then the importance of the district line virtually disappears because every candidate will face others strong enough to win approval from voters.

Los Alamitos

IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers.  Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections;  the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

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