Small Town News

Redistricting merits open, public process

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Editorial

Change is coining to Sussex County's voting districts, but it's not yet known how many districts will change or how district boundaries will be altered.

Lopsided growth in the county's population means that while all the districts have grown, one district, Joan Deaver's District 3, has too many residents and will have to shrink, while Mike Vincent's District 1 has too few residents, so it will have to grow.

To date, Sussex County Council has not proposed a process by which changes in the district boundaries will be made.

That has prompted concern among citizen groups such as the League of Women Voters, which is calling on county council to develop and announce a public process for drawing new district boundaries.

The league proposes starting the process by holding public hearings within each district; information gathered during those meetings would then be used to develop the redistricting plan

Drawing district boundaries is by nature a

political process; some voters will be in new districts for the next election. They could include Deaver, who lives within a few feet of the boundary for her district. Redrawing the line could separate her from her constituency.

In light of the questions already swirling around this issue, county council should move quickly to adopt an open, transparent process. In addition constituents' input before drawing new boundary lines, the process should also ensure voters in all districts have a chance to consider proposed changes and comment on them before a final vote is taken.

In the end, however, redistricting itself does not signal major political change. Even when district lines are drawn to give communities of interest a greater voice, voters within the new district, must be motivated to get out to the polls to vote and to vote for the same candidate.

The idea of "one person one vote" is a hallmark of American democracy, yet the process works only if voters go to the polls and exercise their right to choose.





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