Fair Boundaries of Utah
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Fair Boundaries of Utah is a non-partisan coalition of citizens whose major goal is "to set up a fair and independent redistricting commission and eliminate an obvious conflict of interest: elected officials drawing their own districts".[1] Incumbents often modify political boundaries for their own personal advantage, without following any logical or established principle. The major areas of concern are the boundaries of Congressional Districts, State Senators, State Representatives, and School Districts.
Contents
Awkwardly divided electoral districts
Presently in Utah the boundaries of the electoral districts (except those of the two US Senators) are often drawn at the will of the elected officials, without the balancing factor of an independent, neutral commission. Several cities and counties are awkwardly divided in sectors without any logical reason. For example, this is the case of Moab, Ogden, Park City, Summit County, Tooele County, and so on. This could be considered a case of gerrymandering, as even US Senator Bob Bennett has admitted.[2]
Current agenda
The first goal of Fair Boundaries is to organize a petition with the purpose to gather the 95,000 signatures necessary to get the initiative admitted to the official ballot. These signatures must be gathered by April 2010, in time for the November 2010 elections.
Models
The US states that have the most advanced political systems to check the fairness of the boundaries of their electoral districts are Iowa[3] and Massachusetts. The goal of Fair Boundaries is to create in Utah a similar system.[4]
