The Washington Post
Dan Morain
More than 17,000 people applied for the 14 seats on the commission that will draw districts for the decade starting in 2022. One was Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College who focuses on minority rights.
To make the cut, she had to write essays, pledge to be impartial and gather recommendation letters. The state auditor, an independent agency, winnowed the pool to 120, then legislators cut that in half. Ultimately, it came down to a lottery using ping-pong balls. Sadhwani’s ball was drawn.
“Good governance and a strong democracy should not be a partisan issue,” Sadhwani told me.
But, of course, it is.
Republicans control more state legislatures than Democrats do, and so control redistricting in those states. Congressional Democrats recognize that one way to gain seats in gerrymandered red states is to establish independent commissions. Their fundraising appeals tout H.R. 1, promising to “END Republican gerrymandering.”
