Voting Rights

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The Elephant and the Salamander: Colorado Rules Against Redistricting

Try to solve this riddle: In Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado, I have shifted the political landscape from basic to bold. I am a political maneuver that is nearly a century old. I can greatly affect the congresses of the nation and state. I therefore influence citizens’ representation and fate. What am I?

The answer: redistricting.

What is redistricting?

Following each ten-year census, states consider redrawing their congressional districts, or, redistricting, in order to keep up with shifts in population. While redistricting sounds like a dull mathematical process, it is actually a lively political battle that directly affects the outcome of elections.

Through the redrawing of district boundaries, a predominantly Democratic district can be transformed into a Republican one, and vice versa. Boundaries can be re-sketched to slice a voting block into pieces, causing it to dissolve into the surrounding districts and be overcome by them. Redistricting can also create an entirely new Democratic or Republican district, a change that drastically shifts the balance of power in the legislature.

Clearly then, both parties want influence over redistricting. Sometimes, a party will create and implement a new district map for the sole purpose of winning elections; this is called gerrymandering.

Gerry’s salamander

The term gerrymandering dates back to 1812, when Massachusetts’s governor Elbridge Gerry drew a new district for the purpose of political gain. Gerry’s district was the shape of a salamander.

In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled gerrymandering to be unconstitutional if its result hinders the will of the majority. Some argue that the current redistricting efforts in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado are unconstitutional gerrymandering. Others claim that these efforts are rightly restoring power to the majority. The courts will decide who is right.

Court ruling

On December 1, 2003, the Colorado Supreme Court blocked a Republican effort to redistrict the state.

The majority of judges ruled that the Republican-controlled legislature violated the state constitution when it tried to re-redistrict the state in May of 2003. The state constitution allows for only one redistricting effort per ten-year census. The legislature had already attempted to redistrict in 2002, but had reached a deadlock. Therefore, a federal court imposed a new district map on the state. The court considers that map to be the one-and-only for the decade and threw the Republican map out.

Republicans maintain that the legislature still has the right to create and impose its own map, and that the court-ordered map was just temporary. They are still deciding if they want to appeal the court’s decision.

Across the nation

Controversial redistricting efforts in Texas and Pennsylvania have ended up in the courts as well. In December 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to consider Pennsylvania redistricting, and a three-judge panel in Texas plans to look into that state’s fiasco. (Form more on redistricting in Texas and Pennsylvania, click here.)

For now, no one can determine if the Colorado ruling will have an effect on the other states’ court battles. Since the Colorado court ruled in accordance with the state constitution, the decision is not directly applicable to the other two cases. However, the court’s disdain for Republican attempts to win seats through redistricting may influence other judges.

Rocky mountain results

The Colorado Supreme Court decision will affect the state’s upcoming elections. The court-ordered map makes two of the congressional districts extremely competitive. Now, these districts are composed of an almost even number of registered Republicans and Democrats.

Coloradoans in these districts will see vigorous campaigns from both the elephants and the donkeys.

More on redistricting

To learn more about voting rights, click here. To read specifically about gerrymandering, click here. To discuss this topic with other WomenMatter readers, sign on to one of our online forums. When you’re ready, contact your representatives, and let them know what you think.

Update Posted on: 12/9/2003

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