Tribune Poll 3 out of 4 Utahns want Independent Redistricting Commission

The survey conducted by the Salt Lake Tribune in January showed that 73% of Utahns don't want the legislature to draw the boundaries for the redistricting every 10 years.

In 2001, the gerrymandering in Utah was noted as the worst in the nation in the news in both Washington DC and New York.  Utah residents have had to live with the impact of the gerrymandering for 10 years and are not in favor of another redistricting process like the one in 2001.

There are 13 Legislative Districts in Utah County and 8 of them are located in multiple senate districts. 

House District 56 is in 3 senate districts  11,13, 14 

House District 61 is in senate districts 13, 15, 16

House District 62 is in Senate Districts 14, 15, & 16

House District 27 is in Senate Districts 11 & 14

House District 64 is in Senate Districts 15 & 16

House districts, 65, 66, & 67 are all in both Senate Districts 27 and 13.

Part of the problems with the 2001 redistricting was maintaining the seat boundaries for all of the GOP incumbents while destroying the boundaries of all Democratic incumbents in the state and federal offices.

Populations shift and maintaning a boundary that an incumbent can win does not always result in the best boundaries for the population and city boundaries, not counting the issues with splitting up Salt Lake and Utah County into pieces all over the state.

The boundaries in Legislative District 57 were so confusing that maps creating the boundaries according to the legislative "intent" made an error and placed a portion of Leg 57 in the 3rd Congressional District and a different senate seat than the Legislature boundaries planned and for 10 years those residents have had the wrong names on their ballot for congressman and senator and state legislator.

The end result, Representative Craig Frank  didn't live in the district where he was elected and lost his seat on the Legislature.  (That still doesn't change the fact the wrong name for senator and congressman was on their ballots for 10 years.)

Note:  Cedar Hills is the area where strong, conservative Republican voters were moved into the 2nd Congressional District to remove the Democratic stronghold that maintained Jim Matheson's incumbency in Washington.  Too bad the boundaries were so confsuing the mapping couldn't get it straight and the voters were still in the 3rd Congressional District, despite the legislative intent to change that.

The question now is can this legislature do a better job of redistricting than the 2001 legislature, and will the maps for redistricting be more accurate than the 2001 redistricting maps.  I guess the even bigger question is how many years it will take someone to figure out the wrong names are on their ballots or their legislator doesn't live in their district.

Tribune