Utah Prop 4 is a Disaster!

The problem with Prop 4 is that it creates more bureaucracy, there is no need to change the way redistricting is currently done, the changes proposed by Prop 4 do nothing to improve redistricting and under Prop 4 terms each redistricting would cost several millions of dollars and take several years to resolve as the State of Utah would be forced into suing itself to block the legislature from doing its job. Each redistricting would eventually be decided by the courts.

Prop 4 would have a commission established that will recommend a redistricting plan to the legislature that can either accept or reject the commission’s plan. If the legislature rejects the commission’s plan, it must develop its own plan and vote to pass it. Whatever plan the legislature decides on, if someone doesn't believe the legislature's plan meets the requirements specified by Prop 4, Prop 4 authorizes lawsuits to block implementation of the legislature’s plans.

First, we must decide if the current law regarding redistricting is sufficient as it stands or if there is a critical flaw in current redistricting processes that needs to be fixed. Currently, a redistricting plan is more or less developed by the majority party in the legislature (this has typically been the Republicans in the State House and Senate). The plan is presented to the entire legislature and voted upon. If Republicans develop the plan and then most of them vote for the plan, the Republicans essentially control redistricting.

Is it fair and reasonable that the Republicans control redistricting as they do most governmental processes in Utah? Yes—because the people elect representatives to represent them in the state government. If the majority of Utahns are Republicans, it is reasonable that the legislature might have a similar political mix. This same relationship can be seen between the party of the majority of the people and the majority in the legislature in other states like California and New York where the Democrats control just about everything.

In any of the states that have a dominant political party, anyone may try to persuade others to switch parties. Barring mass numbers switching parties, the status quo is likely to remain as it is. The point is, the system is working as designed to represent the people; there is no need to alter how we redistrict. There are two major strikes against Prop 4, 1) that there is no need to change how Utah redistricts, and 2) That Prop 4 while costing a fortune, does nothing to improve the redistricting process—it only adds to the craziness and polarization of politics today.

The Redistricting Commission members are to be appointed this way: The Governor appoints one member, the Republican Leadership in the Legislature appoints three members and the Democrat Leaders in the Legislature appoint three members. There’s absolutely no way such a commission could be referred to as “independent”. So instead of having a partisan legislature coming up with a plan for gerrymandering district boundaries, we have a partisan commission making a plan, turning it over to the legislature and then having the partisan legislature accept the commission’s plan or develop their own plan and pass that plan in session. The cost of adding this commission to the process in order to give the legislature a second biased recommendation is estimated at over $1 million.

Then the craziness really gets underway. While Prop 4 does not specify exactly who will do the following, it says that “someone” will establish qualifications for the commission members and establish requirements for redistricting plans. That same “someone” will authorize lawsuits to block the legislature’s plan if anyone feels it is not consistent with the established redistricting requirements. I think it’s fair to say that there’s never been a redistricting plan in the history of the earth when there hasn’t been at least one person that was not completely happy with the plan.

So, practically speaking, Prop 4 is designed to throw all redistricting plans to the courts (which have their own, separate biases) for them to decide in lieu of the legislature what they think is a fair and reasonable way for districts to be divided up. In terms of the Utah Constitution, redistricting is a prerogative of the legislature; changing this to one of the court’s responsibilities would require a constitutional amendment. According to Prop 4, every redistricting would be tied up in the courts for years with the State of Utah suing the State of Utah over this. During the course of the lawsuits and appeals, voting and other critical, district-related activities would be suspended. Prop 4 could possibly shut down Utah government.

Overall, I would say Prop 4 is a complete disaster! In my opinion, the only good that could possibly come from Prop 4 would be to lower the unemployment rate for Utah lawyers. As Prop 4 is not needed in the first place, and as Prop 4 does nothing to change redistricting for the better, all at an additional cost to taxpayers of several million dollars, my recommendation is to: VOTE NO on PROP 4.