Voters in three states Tuesday approved ballot measures to reform the process by which congressional and state legislative lines are drawn, aimed at preventing politicians from drawing favorable voting boundaries for themselves and their parties.
Initiatives in Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri, three of the four states where redistricting measures were on the ballot, won approval. A ballot measure in Utah currently leads by a thin margin.
The voter-backed changes to political line-drawing come ahead of the next once-in-a-decade redistricting process, which will happen after the 2020 Census.
Each redistricting measure gives responsibility for drafting congressional and legislative lines to individual entities, primarily commissions made up of Republican, Democratic, and unaffiliated voters, rather than the state legislatures.
In Missouri, voters approved a change to the state constitution to create the position of a “non-partisan state demographer,” which will draw legislative maps to be presented to state House and Senate apportionment commissions. Missouri’s amendment also requires the use of a statistical test to ensure voting maps are drawn to achieve partisan fairness and competitiveness.
The redistricting measures come after the Supreme Court declined earlier this year to address the constitutionality of extreme gerrymandering.
In two cases before the justices last term, the high court ruled on technical issues rather than on the broader question of when, and whether, partisanship in the redistricting process violates the Constitution.
The Supreme Court could, however, address future challenges to partisan gerrymanders.
