I've got nothing against white males. After all, I am one. But when it comes to a panel pretending to represent the state, these are some very disconcerting numbers:
The deadline for Californians to apply for a first-of-its-kind citizens commission to draw districts for legislative elections ended Tuesday night with the field of applicants tilting heavily toward white men. Of the nearly 31,000 applications received, whites submitted 70 percent, far higher than their 41 percent share of California's population. (SacBee)
Latinos were the most heavily under-represented, with only about 11.5% in the pool despite their 37% share of the state's population.
During the Prop 11 campaign, minority organizations across the state opposed this nonsense, saying that this exact situation would occur. And sure enough, here we are. I hope everybody remembers this day when the ballot proposition to use a similar pattern to redistrict Congress comes up. Well, I'll do my best to remind, anyway.
Despite these bad numbers, there were still 31,000 applicants. So, we should expect to see a decently representative first cut as the auditor's office does the work to balance things out. But if you applied, and you are a Latino female? Well, expect a call.
In the end, my best guess of how this works is that we'll get a map that is perhaps a bit more "blockish", but still producing similar numbers of similarly partisan Republicans and Democrats. At heart, Prop 11 misses the simple truth that we have self-sorted over the past 50 years. There's no way to draw a competitive seat in SF or in far Northeastern California. Just isn't, no matter how dedicated these people are.
So, maybe we'll get a map, maybe we'll just go back to the judges. Either way, not a whole lot changes, and the state is pout $5 million or so. Sounds like a great plan guys, can't we emulate this everywhere! |
