REDISTRICTING BATTLES ABOUT TO BEGIN

posted by Michael Chihak

Population equality and congruity are two of the six requirements to be met for Arizona to redraw its congressional and legislative district boundaries. And they are the two least likely to be in conflict with one another.

The other four criteria are where the contentiousness will come in. And there will be contention, starting Wednesday, when the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission begins the public discussion about the mapping process.

Still to be injected into the map-making process are the requirements of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, communities of interest, geographic and municipal boundary considerations and competitiveness.

Satisfying any one of those requirements almost automatically leads to conflict with one or more of the others. Add to that the political tug-of-war that has already begun in earnest, and the commission will find itself in a no-win situation before long.

That was the same the first time around for the previous commission, when it redrew boundaries after the 2000 census. It took three years to get a map that passed all court challenges and another four years before final appeals were exhausted.

Nearly in time to start the whole process again.