Eric Olson Op-ed - today's Sun

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.redistrict27dec27.story

Ugly redistricting map spotlights system's flaws

By Eric C. Olson
Baltimore Sun, December 27, 2001

REDISTRICTING brings out the worst of politics, in which the public
interest is subsumed entirely by personal and partisan considerations. 

Put your finger anywhere on the proposed map of reconstituted Maryland
legislative districts, scratch the surface and chances are you'll discover
a disturbing story behind the new boundaries. For example: 

It's likely that Democratic Sen. Clarence M. Mitchell IV, an outspoken
leader from Baltimore City, will find himself going head-to-head with
Democratic Sen. George W. Della Jr., who represents both Baltimore County
and the city. It sets up a fratricidal contest between more urban black and
suburban white voters. 

The blue-collar community of Dundalk will lose its senator and two
delegates, with Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Democrat and a veteran of 39
years in the legislature, finding himself and his district out in the cold.


In Montgomery County, Del. John A. Hurson, a Democrat and chairman of the
Environmental Matters Committee, was moved from District 18 to District 20.
It infuriated African-American and Latino leaders, who believe the new
slate of four white incumbent Democrats in the 59 percent nonwhite district
stifles an opportunity for minority candidates to win. 

The Eastern Shore's two Republican senators, J. Lowell Stoltzfus and
Richard F. Colburn, will be pitted against each other even though
Republicans in the General Assembly are already marginal and outnumbered
nearly 3-1. 

It would be easy for those spurned in redistricting to launch broadsides
against Gov. Parris N. Glendening's Redistricting Advisory Committee for
its proposal. The committee was, after all, responsible for new political
lines that will shortchange communities, force lawmakers to run against
each other and give and take away representation. Much as they might seem
the logical subject of derision, it's not so much the individual players
today -- Mr. Glendening, Senate President Thomas V.Mike Miller and House
Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., all Democrats, and others -- as it is the
antiquated, ill-suited election system that deserves contempt. 

Our winner-take-all elections force lawmakers every 10 years to engage in
the ugly process of playing kingmaker. With that understanding, the real
criterion for citizen praise or scorn ought to be whether political leaders
seek to keep or overhaul the undemocratic system that creates kingmakers in
the first place. 

With little effort, Maryland could join most of the rest of the democratic
world and adopt a proportional representation voting system in which
election district lines matter much less. In three-seat House districts,
one-fourth of the vote would win a seat. Currently, a quarter of the vote
wins no representation. While those votes may send some kind of vague
message, they are essentially wasted. 

Proportional election methods create more competitive elections, increase
voter turnout and reward more people with representation of their choice.
Today, if a voting community of interest that represents up to 49 percent
of a district casts all its ballots for the same candidates, even that
large minority will not receive representation. 

Whether it's for the Baltimore City Council or the state legislature,
winner-take-all elections suppress minority representation. The current
debate over eliminating three-seat City Council districts in favor of
single-seat districts -- both of which use the winner-take-all election
method -- is the wrong question. Instead, reformers interested in
accountability and opening up representation ought to turn to proportional
election methods. 

A bill in the 2000 General Assembly session would have established a
commission to study the benefits of adopting proportional election systems
for Maryland's legislature. Unfortunately, legislators never voted it out
of committee, and citizens are paying for it as politics become more
consolidated within the hands of a few. 

Unless Maryland moves to a proportional system, which it could do even with
the new map, the winners and losers of the next decade are largely already
decided by a politically powerful elite. 

Given the sophisticated computer software of today, it's easy to rig
winner-take-all districts. Under proportional representation, no matter
where the election lines are drawn, it's likely that the full diversity of
the state would become reflected in our so-called "citizen" legislature.
That would empower the voters, not the kingmakers. 

(Eric C. Olson is deputy director of the Center for Voting and Democracy, a
national nonprofit organization based in Takoma Park. )