Non-Partisan Redistricting

DDN has the story of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announcing the winner of a redistricting competition:

Fourteen redistricting plans were entered by the public for the competition announced in March. They were graded on whether the proposed districts were compact, didn’t overly favor one party, and didn’t divide counties into multiple districts.

One of the three winning plans had nine districts that leaned Republican and nine that leaned Democratic, and 10 of the 18 districts were rated as competitive for either party.

The competition partners, including the League ofWomen Voters, wanted to demonstrate that districts could be drawn in more fairly. They are currently drawn by whichever party controls the Legislature.

After my comments on Mike DeWine there are probably a number of conservatives who now consider me a squish.  And I am sure fans of Brunner and Governor Strickland coinsider me a partisian hack.

Well, let me throw one more factor into the mix: I would support a non-partisan process for redistricting.  I think gerrymandering confuses voters and leads to less competition and thus stale public policy.  Districts drawn to be compact and to keep communities whole would be good for Ohio.

Now, as always, the devil is in the details.  But I do think there is a process that would be fair an functional.  I haven’t studied Senator Husted’s proposal, but it is worth debate and discussion.

What do you think?  A good idea or a trap by liberal do-gooders?