Why we have a somewhat nonpartisan redistricting system

Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Jun 30, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Why we have a somewhat nonpartisan redistricting system</h1>
                <h2><p>An editorial in The Spokesman-Review hails the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the right of voters to set up redistricting systems that largely bypass state legislatures. Washington was one of the first states to set up a system, and the editorial notes that Washington's Legislature</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>An editorial in <a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/jun/30/editorial-supreme-courts-redistricting-ruling/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">The Spokesman-Review hails</a> the U.S. Supreme Court's <a href="http://crosscut.com/troll/date/2015/06/29/after-spacex-flop-whats-next-hope-for-space-station-supplies?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">decision</a> upholding the right of voters to set up redistricting systems that largely bypass state legislatures. Washington was one of the first states to set up a system, and the editorial notes that Washington's Legislature itself became sick of the increasingly partisan battles over redistricting in the early 1980s and sent a reform measure to voters, who approved it. The case before the court dealt with Arizona, where lawmakers felt their toes, or their rights to gerrymander, had been stepped upon. The editorial notes Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's conclusion that "the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.” Seems like something to celebrate this Independence Day.</p>
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An editorial in The Spokesman-Review hails the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the right of voters to set up redistricting systems that largely bypass state legislatures. Washington was one of the first states to set up a system, and the editorial notes that Washington's Legislature itself became sick of the increasingly partisan battles over redistricting in the early 1980s and sent a reform measure to voters, who approved it. The case before the court dealt with Arizona, where lawmakers felt their toes, or their rights to gerrymander, had been stepped upon. The editorial notes Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's conclusion that "the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.” Seems like something to celebrate this Independence Day.

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By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi