In a recent post I discussed Porto Alegre’s Participatory Budgeting program. Rather than delegating the task of budgeting to elected officials, Porto Alegre has developed an inclusionary process by which all citizens of the city can participate in crafting the city’s annual budget. Click here for more information. In light of the program’s success, I think it only appropriate to envision new political domains that could incorporate a similar idea.
Given the heated battles currently under way in most state legislatures over redistricting, redistricting was the first that came to mind. Some states like California have begun toying with the idea of devolving the power of redistricting from the state legislature to an independent redistricting commission. The idea of an independent commission is good, but by no means ideal. The process may be less partisan, but it is still conducted with top-down organization and, therefore, excludes most ordinary citizens from the process. While anybody could apply to be a member of the redistricting commission the majority of citizens had no chance of actually be selected.
Using Porto Alegre’s participatory budgeting scheme as a model, I propose the idea of a Participatory Redistricting Commission as the next step beyond California’s Independent Redistricting Commission. The process would look like such:
• Each state will be divided into geographic regions (This would not have to be political. We are looking for compact and small regions so that all citizens of any one region could reasonably attend a regional gathering.)
• Upon receiving the census data each region will hold a Regional Meeting during which citizens from the region can discuss their redistricting concerns and elect delegates to represent their region at later state wide meetings
• Elected delegates will then enter a period of continued citizen testimony at smaller and regular meetings throughout the region and will undergo a period of redistricting training/learning to equip them with necessary skills
• After concluding the period of witness testimony, delegates from every region will attend a statewide meeting and voice the concerns and opinions of their region to the entire delegation
• Delegates at the statewide meeting will then elect individuals amongst themselves to a Redistricting Commission (or alternatively regional delegates select one delegate amongst their region to represent the region on the Redistricting Commission)
• The Redistricting Commission compiles what it has heard at the regional meetings and statewide meeting to draw the new districts
The exact details of the process would need to be worked out, but the general idea would be that all citizens have an equal chance of participating. I am tired of the elitist strategies that many Left and Right organizations use in attempting to foster ‘democracy.’ The CA Citizens Redistricting Commission is great in its ability to depoliticize a highly political process, but it fails miserably in its ability to include ordinary citizens in the process. A Participatory Redistricting Commission would go along way in establishing an open, transparent, accountable and democratic process of redistricting.