Arizona's method for reducing blatant political influence from redistricting has not resulted in more competitive elections, two experts on the process say.
Their comments, in interviews for Friday's Arizona Week broadcast, came as the Independent Redistricting Commission begins its work following release of the 2010 census count for Arizona. Under the census, the state gets one more congressional district, for a total of nine.
The commission must draw boundaries for those nine districts and 30 legislative districts while meeting a multitude of requirements: respecting geographic barriers, such as mountain ranges or rivers; balancing voters from both parties to ensure political competitiveness; and preserving the rights of existing communities of interest, such as voters in historically Latino barrios, even when they are more politically homogeneous and less "balanced."
The system currently in place to juggle this myriad of conditions has fallen short on some fronts, experts say.
"I don't think we can blame it on the redistricting commission, but after we went to that system for redrawing district lines, the number of competitive districts in Arizona actually went down," said Jennifer Steen, a professor of political science at Arizona State University.
Adolfo Echeveste, who was executive director of the first redistricting commission, serving from 2001 to 2008, said the new commission should consider putting competitiveness at the forefront of the criteria for redrawing boundaries.
Steen said that presents potential problems, because it can be seen as conflicting with the criteria to protect communities of interest.
"The problem is that sometimes when you have communities of interest, they tend to be homogeneous communities, and that means that they not only share some interest, but they tend to be politically similar, and that's not particularly competitive between the two major political parties," she said. "However, it's sort of a myth that all communities of interest are homogeneous, so I think there are many opportunities for accommodating communities of interest while also drawing competitive districts."
One other area of concern for the process is how to deal with Arizona's growing numbers of independent voters. The political system is largely controlled by Republicans and Democrats. But registration numbers show more independents in Arizona than Democrats and nearly as many as Republicans.
"It's very difficult (to account for independents)," Steen said. But she added that research shows there are consistent voting patterns among independent voters, either Democratic or Republican.
Echeveste said one helpful change would be going to open primary elections, in which everyone could vote. The top two vote getters in each race, regardless of party affiliation, then would face each other in a runoff, he said.
All in all, both said the redistricting system is better now than when politicians handled it.
"I think it's the closest thing that we're going to get to nonpartisanship in redistricting," Echeveste said. "The obvious strength in establishing this law ... is you took redistricting out of the smoke-filled back room, being done by the controlling party without input from the minority party."
Steen said the greatest strength of the system is its allowance for citizen input, at the public hearings and in the open comment period both before and after maps are approved. She said that should encourage people to get involved.
At the same time, Steen and Echeveste agreed that the public has little understanding of the system.
"The average citizen is not aware of the process," Echeveste said. "That is the challenge of the new commission: how to bring what the commission's responsibility is, why it's doing what it is doing, to all of our communities."
"I don't think the average citizen does understand the system," Steen said. "Redistricting is a highly technical, very complex process. ... The overwhelming majority of people don't have any idea what the particular process is."
Reporter Michael Chihak further explores the complexities of redistricting in tonight's episode of Arizona Week. Tune in tonight at 8:30 p.m. on PBS-HD, or watch online at azweek.com.
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