Giving unaffiliateds voice
Initiative 55 could enhance the votes of the “lost souls”
Designing legislative districts that favor one political party or the other is one of the unseen back-room political maneuvers that can have a major influence on the outcome of state elections.
But that sort of gerrymander, as the process is often called, may be harder to pull off if an initiated constitutional amendment — Initiative 55 — were to pass.
The amendment, which has not yet been certified for the 2016 ballot, could benefit unaffiliated voters in Colorado. Under consideration is a proposal to give them a major role in legislative and congressional redistricting, the drawing of the boundary lines of the districts from which state representatives, state senators, and members of the U.S. House are elected.
One-third of Colorado voters prefer to be unaffiliated in their party registration, which is their right. Many of them are “low-information” citizens, others are turned off by what they see in the Democratic and Republican parties, and some are more moderate in their views.
But the choice to register unaffiliated, or independent, means that voters cannot vote in Democratic or Republican caucuses, such as the ones coming up on March 1, for example. Unaffiliated voters cannot attend or vote at political party conventions in Colorado. And unaffiliateds cannot vote in Democratic or Republican primary elections.
Unaffiliated voters in Colorado do have the right to declare a party membership on Election Day and then vote in that political party’s primary, but few unaffiliated voters in Colorado avail themselves of this right.
Democratic and Republican activists sometimes refer to unaffiliated voters as the “lost souls” of Colorado politics. All they get to do is vote in the general elections — and then, in almost all instances, they have to choose between the political party nominees selected for them by the two mainstream political parties.
A few states allow unaffiliateds to vote in political party caucuses and primaries, and there are some good arguments for that. But unaffiliated voting in party caucuses and primaries is unlikely to happen soon in Colorado.
Initiative 55 may be petitioned through the citizen-signature process on to the November 2016 ballot. As currently worded, Initiative 55 would require that four unaffiliated voters be appointed to the Colorado State Redistricting Commission, which would be assigned to designate the districting for both the state legislature and the U.S. House.
The Democrats would appoint four more members of the commission and the
Republicans four more after that, making 12 members of the commission in all. A twothirds majority (eight votes) would be required to adopt any redistricting plan, thereby preventing the Democrats or the Republicans from dominating the process.
Under existing practices, one political party prevails over the other and “carves out” districts that advantage their party. An 11-member commission often contains only Democrats and Republicans (although 2011 was an exception) and one party typically gains a six-vote majority block. That political party then shapes the legislative district lines, almost always giving the party an advantage on Election Day.
Initiative 55 assumes that the four unaffiliated voters on the proposed redistricting commission will discourage partisan gerrymandering and press to draw competitive districts, which would enable unaffiliated voters to have more voting power in the general election.
Competitive legislative districts are districts in which neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have the decisive edge in registered voters. That means candidates from both political parties will have a chance of winning the seat in state legislative elections.
One result of encouraging competitive districts will be that strong candidates are likely to be recruited by both political parties, and those candidates will have to reach out strongly to unaffiliated voters to win the general election.
Note that when gerrymandered safe seats are created, the legislator from that district secures de facto re-election in the general election. The general election becomes meaningless, since the candidate who won the party primary is always voted into office in the general election. This essentially disenfranchises unaffiliated voters, who cannot vote in the party primary.
Thus the more districts that are competitive, the more opportunities there will be for unaffiliated voters to participate in and have influence over who is elected to the state legislature.
Registered Democrats and Republicans might also benefit from the expected increase in competitive districts. This is because many of the legislators in current safe seats do not really have to campaign much. They can be assured of election or reelection by primarily courting and listening to the small body of party elites who vote regularly in party primary elections. They may pay attention to the views of unaffiliateds — yet they do not really have to.
Having too many safe seats also has the probable side effect of electing Republican legislators who are more conservative than mainstream Colorado voters and Democrats who are more liberal than the Colorado mainstream.
This is not altogether bad, as it can foster lively conservative-vs.-liberal policy debates in the legislature. But an unanticipated consequence of safe seats is that they elect “conviction conservatives” (Republicans) and “conviction liberals” (Democrats) who sometimes have difficulty doing the bargaining and compromising so often required to produce good legislation. And the views of most unaffiliateds, who by and large are moderate, go unrepresented.
Some doubters about Initiative 55 are rightly concerned that this proposal as initially drawn up might dilute minority representation and make it harder for underrepresented minorities to win election to the state legislature. This is a valid concern, and proponents of Initiative 55 should address this concern in the final version of their proposed amendment.
Unaffiliated voters have much to gain from Initiative 55. Four unaffiliated voters will serve on the redistricting commission, and the resulting competitive districts will enhance the votes of unaffiliateds in general elections and may well enhance the quality of governing in general.