Louisiana: mid-decade redistricting?
Roll Call reports on speculation that there might be a mid-decade redistricting in Louisiana: Still, there is a realization at the state Legislature in Baton Rouge that Louisiana may have to take action before the end of the decade. Marusak and Lowrey said state lawmakers have discussed holding a special session before they are scheduled to convene again in March 2006.
That recognition may stem from growing pressure in central and northern Louisiana congressional districts that have become a temporary home for thousands of newcomers renting houses, filling public schools and clogging local highways.
Baker spokesman Michael DiResto estimated that the 6th, which is northwest of New Orleans and encompasses Baton Rouge, may have twice as many people in it as most every other district in the nation.
Baker said that motels, hotels and public-housing and rental units are filled in Baton Rouge and surrounding communities. He added that some business owners had bought 20 or 30 houses to relocate their entire operations to the state capital.
The "ideal" district, Lowrey said, has 638,425 people. Officials in Baton Rouge said the 4th, 5th and 6th districts are each housing more than 1 million people. Bonner said Alabama had picked up 20,000 residents, including as many as 5,000 in his district. -- Hurricane may end up costing La. a House seat
[I don't have a link because I don't have a subscription to Roll Call]
Let's assume that most people from South Louisiana have moved to North Louisiana. Without a census, you can't tell how many people are where, so you can't draw a zero-deviation district as the Supreme Court requires for congressional districts, and probably can't draw +/- 5% legislative districts. On the other hand, the de-population of South Louisiana makes it pretty clearly unfair to leave things as they are. What do you do?
A modest proposal: Get Congress to amend the federal law requiring single-member congressional districts to allow an alternative voting system that allows all Louisianans to vote for the same candidates. Congress could authorize the state legislature to choose one of these (taken from the FairVote.org site):
* List System -- by far the most widely used form of full representation. The voter selects one party and its slate of candidates to represent them. Party slates can be either "closed" or "open," with open lists allowing voters to vote for individual candidates rather than political parties. If a party receives 30% of the vote, they receive 30% of the seats in the legislature, 10% of the vote receives 10% of the seats, and so on. A minimum share of the votes can be required to earn representation; typically a 3-5% threshold is used. This type of full representation is ideal for large legislatures on state and national levels. * Choice Voting -- the voter simply ranks candidates in an order of preference (1,2,3,4, etc...). Once a voter's first choice is elected or eliminated, excess votes are "transferred" to subsequent preferences until all positions are filled. Voters can vote for their favorite candidate(s), knowing that if that candidate doesn't receive enough votes their vote will "transfer" to their next preference. With choice voting, every vote counts and very few votes are wasted. Choice voting is ideal for non-partisan elections like city councils. This method is also called "Single Transferable Vote" or "STV".
A disaster the size of Katrina requires some creative thinking. Let's get to it.