What voters say about California’s redistricting measure : NPR
Voting signs for California’s special election outside the Rancho Santa Margarita Library in Orange County. California voters are weighing in on Proposition 50, which would allow the state’s Democratic leaders to temporarily bypass California’s independent redistricting commission and pass a more Democratic-friendly congressional map before next year’s midterm elections.
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LOS ANGELES — Adelaide Stone Van Gessel says she disagrees with partisan gerrymandering in practice.
But she voted yes on Proposition 50, a California ballot measure that would allow the state’s Democratic leaders to temporarily bypass California’s independent redistricting commission and pass a more Democratic-friendly congressional map before next year’s midterm elections.
Van Gessel and others who support Proposition 50 told NPR that the proposal offers the Democratic-leaning state a rare opportunity to directly counter efforts by President Trump and Republicans to redraw political maps in their favor in other states.
“What we’re doing is gerrymandering to stop gerrymandering,” she said. “And it’s not really the best solution, but it’s something we have to do in this kind of environment.”
Adelaide Stone Van Gessel stands with her dog, Guinness, outside the Oakwood Community Center and voting site in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles.
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Voting for the one-issue special election ends Tuesday, with polls showing Proposition 50 likely to pass. If so, California’s Democratic state leaders can use a new congressional map that would make five House seats more favorable to the party, making up for the five districts in which Republicans flipped in Texas earlier this year.
Republican lawmakers in Missouri and North Carolina also passed new maps, and a bipartisan deal reached last week in Ohio tilts that state’s congressional map further to the right. Lawmakers in other states, including Virginia Democrats, could join the fight over redistricting.
In Southern California, many left-leaning voters approving Proposition 50 said they had mixed feelings about the measure but ultimately felt that allowing a partisan gerrymander is one of the only options they have to prevent Trump from preventing a Democratic victory in Congress next year.
“We can’t play like honest people anymore,” said Stephanie Eberstein, who, like Van Gessel, lives in the liberal Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice. “I mean, these rules are abandoned. So we have to do what we have to do.”
In Orange County, Eva Hernandez agrees.
“We have to do something,” Hernández said. “I can’t just stand by and let things roll the way they have. … California has to do this. We’re a blue state. We have to do what we have to do to counteract this.”
California Republican Voters Fear Losing Representation
While polls show Proposition 50 is likely to win approval, it appears none of the opposition’s arguments against the measure are truly resonating in a heavily Democratic state.
A number of voters told NPR they were focused on the current proposal and didn’t remember how they voted about 15 years ago, when the nonpartisan, citizen-led redistricting commission was created.
Kathy Brewer voted no on Proposition 50. She lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, one of the few Republican-leaning enclaves in Southern California. She told NPR she thinks the special election and redrawing are unnecessary.
“It’s a waste of money,” she said. “California money we need.”
Betty Roth stands outside the Rancho Santa Margarita Library in Orange County.
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Betty Roth is another voice no. She says that as a Republican, she already feels pretty powerless against the state.
Of California’s 52 seats in the House of Representatives, only nine are currently held by Republicans. Roth says she doesn’t want the GOP to lose what little representation it has.
“They’re trying to take away the right to vote from a lot of the American people, you know, through gerrymandering,” she said.
But many Democratic voters don’t have much sympathy for that argument.
Aaron Leal, who also lives in Rancho Santa Margarita, says Republicans are trying to rig the midterm elections in their favor because they aren’t sure they can win politically. He says the party is virtually forcing Democrats to respond.
“If one side puts all its strength into advancing its agenda, we cannot, as they say, intervene like a knife in a shootout,” he said.
Leal says he also likes that the measure is temporary. After 2030, the state would return to the independent redistricting commission.
Aaron (left), Maria, Evelyn, Isaac and David Leal stand in front of the Rancho Santa Margarita Library. Aaron likes that the ballot measure is temporary and that after 2030 the state will return to the independent redistricting committee.
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“Someone has to do something.”
Polls show that the Democratic base is largely frustrated with its leaders — mostly because they haven’t been able to get much done.
“The Democrats haven’t really fought back or done anything to combat what’s going on between the Republican Party and Trump,” David Checel said in Culver City. “So yeah. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do about it, and I’m glad I’m not a politician.”
Checel wasn’t enthusiastic about Prop 50 but voted for it because it’s better than doing nothing, he said.
Other Democrats say they’re really happy to see their leaders fight back, including Reina Santiago in Venice.
“I’m glad our state is filing a lawsuit against this because someone has to do something,” she said. “The Republican Party is completely complicit with Trump, and if we let them walk all over us, they will. So that’s what this vote is about.”
And while Jim Lind, who lives in Irvine, shares that sentiment, he also says he’s quite sad that politics has become this way.
“It is unfortunate that any party has to stoop to a lower level to get things done,” he said. “You know, my whole life I’ve probably been more idealistic about people being honest. And it just doesn’t work.”
Reina Santiago stands outside the Oakwood Community Center in Venice.
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