Propositions 20 and 27: The Choices

THERE ARE TWO propositions on the upcoming ballot in California which have to do with how redistricting is done—Prop. 20 and Prop. 27.

Proposition 20:

Proposition 27:

Before you can understand either of them, you need to remember something of the history behind them.

Every ten years the state has to redraw the boundary lines to make sure that our elected representatives each represent roughly the same number of people.

Traditionally this redistricting has been done by the state legislature, and has had to be approved by the Governor. If they can't agree, it has been done by the California Supreme Court.

In 2008 voters narrowly approved Proposition 11, which established a new system for redistricting.

Under Proposition 11 a commission appointed by government auditors makes these decisions instead of our elected representatives for districts relating to State offices.

Districts for federal offices—senators and members of the house of representatives—were left in the hands of our state legislature.

The two propositions on the November ballot would each change this situation, but in different ways—to cut to the chase:

• Proposition 20 would extend the system adopted under Proposition 11 to federal offices, so that those districts would also be drawn by a committee appointed by state government auditors.
• Proposition 27, on the other hand, would repeal Proposition 11, and return the responsibility for state districts to the legislature.

Your options, as a voter, are:

1. Vote "yes" on 20 and "no" on 27.
   
   You would do this if you want the appointed committee to take over all redistricting.
2. Vote "no" on 20 and "yes" on 27.
   
   You would do this if you want to return the responsibility for redistricting to the legislature.
3. Vote "no" on both.
   
   You might do this if you reasoned that it was too soon to advance this experiment with an appointed committee to federal offices, and would rather wait and see how well it worked at the state level first.
4. Vote "yes" on both.
   
   You would do this if you desired one or the other to pass, but didn't care which.
   
   Voting "yes" on both only differs from not voting at all by increasing the chances that one or the other will pass—since if both pass, the one with the most votes will carry the day.

Next: the pros and cons...