In Support of the Fair Boundaries Initiative

Gerrymandering in Utah is a problem. The legislature, composed of a Republican majority, set their own legislative districts each decade, making it difficult for Democratic candidates to win by splitting up more liberal areas into multiple districts to dilute those Democratic voters into districts where they can be outnumbered by Republicans. As Fair Boundaries puts it, the elected officials are choosing their voters; the voters aren't choosing their elected officials. Now, I support Mixed member proportional representation, which widely used in Europe. That would be one idea to remedy the problem. However, such a drastic change to our legislative system would require a constitutional amendment, something that isn't likely to happen. The Fair Boundaries Initiative is fighting for an easier way to fix the problem: creating a commission comprised of four Republicans, four Democrats, and three independent voters to create legislative boundaries. This commission will remedy the direct and obvious conflict of interest in having the legislature design its own gerrymandered boundaries. We need to do all we can to get the signatures needed to place this important reform on the ballot. For those of you that live in Davis County, a planning meeting will be taking place on Saturday, 15 August at 1531 W 2175 S, Syracuse at 7:30 P.M. If you can make it, please come and support the cause. Please check out the Fair Boundaries website at www.fairboundaries.org.

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