Results of census put redistricting in public spotlight
December 19, 2010 8:43 PM
A lot of attention will be focused in the coming weeks and months on the issue of political representation.
The reason is that the Census Bureau will soon be releasing results of the 2010 census and that means there will be an intense - and potentially political - effort to balance election districts at various levels of government in Arizona.
Much attention will be placed on the congressional districts, of course, because of their national implications.
Arizona traditionally gets additional members in the U.S. House of Representatives due to its high rate of population growth, and the outcome of the census count will be the key to finding out if that will happen. The outcome is always highly anticipated because more representatives means more political influence.
States are also required to balance their congressional districts so they are of approximately equal population and therefore theoretically equal representation. Legislative and county supervisor districts will also be realigned in Arizona in the coming months.
Because of the political impact of the redistricting, it can be controversial. One incident has already occurred in Arizona involving appointments to an independent state redistricting panel where there were claims of religious discrimination.
The reality is that even though the goal of redistricting every 10 years is to ensure equal representation, there are ways to manipulate the lines to influence election outcomes and citizens need to be wary of that happening.
Citizens need to demand that every effort be made to minimize the politics of this process so that the election process is fair to everyone.
The reason is that the Census Bureau will soon be releasing results of the 2010 census and that means there will be an intense - and potentially political - effort to balance election districts at various levels of government in Arizona.
Much attention will be placed on the congressional districts, of course, because of their national implications.
Arizona traditionally gets additional members in the U.S. House of Representatives due to its high rate of population growth, and the outcome of the census count will be the key to finding out if that will happen. The outcome is always highly anticipated because more representatives means more political influence.
States are also required to balance their congressional districts so they are of approximately equal population and therefore theoretically equal representation. Legislative and county supervisor districts will also be realigned in Arizona in the coming months.
Because of the political impact of the redistricting, it can be controversial. One incident has already occurred in Arizona involving appointments to an independent state redistricting panel where there were claims of religious discrimination.
The reality is that even though the goal of redistricting every 10 years is to ensure equal representation, there are ways to manipulate the lines to influence election outcomes and citizens need to be wary of that happening.
Citizens need to demand that every effort be made to minimize the politics of this process so that the election process is fair to everyone.
