Is California’s redistricting commission ready for Russian disruption?
I’m not kidding.
If all the news reports and leaks are true, California’s redistricting commission looks like a ripe target for Russian hackers.
California is the leader of the opposition to the Russia-friendly Trump administration. (if that seems too strong, ask yourself: why is Trump always more friendly and complimentary to Putin than he is to the largest state of the country he actually governs?)
And if Trumpism is going to be stopped, Democrats will have to take back the House. That will require major gains in elections here in 2018, and maintaining those gains after the next redistricting process at the end of the decade.
There are already questions about the redistricting commission’s fairness from its first go-round, when some media reports and commentary suggested that Democrats gamed the commission. Russian hacking of the commission could at the very least sow doubts about the fairness of this second process, even if the hackers couldn’t redraw the lines. It doesn’t take much to get Americans to see conspiracies nowadays.
The redistricting commission is an open process that needs to reach out to the public, as it should be. But that’s why it may be vulnerable. Time for the commission to harder its system and plans for its work get underway.