So far, the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission looks like it could be made up of a whole bunch of white guys from Sacramento. And there’s a good chance they’re Republicans. Statistics on the commission’s website indicate those are the principal characteristics of the plurality of those who have applied for the job of drawing California’s assembly and senate districts during the first two days applications were submitted.
Sure, it’s early and things could change. The period for submitting applications to the Citizens Redistricting Commission created by Proposition 11 opened Tuesday. The commission has set up a website and will report daily on the number of applications and break down statistics into categories of Ethnicity, Political Party, Region and County.
During the first two days of the application process, 1761 people applied. Of that number, 1683 are considered eligible under the rules created to keep out individuals who may have a conflict of interest. Not a bad percentage of eligible candidates; certainly better than the number of eligible who signed up for the Anthony Adams recall.
Cynics might suggest that nothing changes. Cynics might be right. Wasn’t it white males living in Sacramento who pretty much wrote up the last redistricting plan? Well, in that case Democrats dominated.
Okay, okay, I get that we’re only two days into a 60-day application process with this new system. Applications are due by February 12, 2010 – Honest Abe’s birthday. Is there a cosmic force at work hoping to finally see an “honest” redistricting that is fairer to the voters than to the politicians?
If things were really fair, we would also see congressional seats redrawn by the citizens’ commission. Those seats were not included in the initiative that created the commission for political reasons, but an opportunity to correct that oversight may come before the voters in the form of an initiative filed this year.
According to commission’s statistics, 65.3% of the qualified applicants are white males. Over 26% of the qualified applicants (male and female) come from Sacramento County. Of that 26% figure, nearly 20% are men. Neighboring Placer County comes in third with 8.5% of the total applicants (men and women) behind mammoth Los Angeles County with nearly 12%.
No surprise, really. People living within the gravitational pull of the state capitol are more aware of the goings-on of state government and are more willing to participate in the process.
Here’s another interesting early statistic: The qualified candidates lean Republican.
Republicans made up 32% of the qualified applicants; Democrats 31%. With the large voter registration advantage Democrats have over Republicans in this state you would expect the Democrats to be dominant.
As the number of applicants grow, the panel selected to narrow the field down to 120 candidates will have their work cut out for them. The process eventually will create a commission of 14-members. The commission must be established by December 31, 2010. Using new figures from the 2010 census, the commission will then begin the work of drawing up districts in a “fair” manner within certain guidelines spelled out in the ballot measure.
To apply for a position on the commission and change–or enhance–these early statistics, go here.