(Stephen Allott) – For those who reside in Clark County, have you ever wondered why the Democrats, who currently account for 45.67% of the county’s total registered voters, hold 76% of Clark County’s 29-member delegation to the State Assembly? The Republicans, who have a 32.65% total voter registration, have less than 25% of the Assembly Seats – 7.
One need look no further than the legislative boundaries re-drawn every decade. True, the boundaries are not decided based on voter registration, but on statistics obtained from the census numbers. However, it is not unreasonable to assume that there is a statistical correlation between the number of registered voters as a percentage of the residents of the district.
Republican Assemblyman Scott Hammond deserves the Clark County accolades for representing the most registered voters in his district, which as of January, 2011, stands at 106,511. This is more than the combined voter registration totals of no fewer than seven Democrat held assembly seats (#6, #8, #9, #11, #19, #28, #42). No wonder the Democrats are only a few seats shy of a veto-proof majority.
The Republican State Senators from Clark County do not fare much better either. Newly elected Republican Elizabeth Halseth represents a whopping 146,255 registered voters, while four of her Democrat counterparts can only muster a combined 116,675 voters.
Something was rotten in the state of Denmark when Shakespeare wrote of it, but today, something is clearly rotten in the State of Nevada.
It is incumbent on the current committees underway, who are in the process of redistricting the boundaries, to rectify these outlandish irregularities. Since it is the legislative body that accomplishes this task, it is tantamount to having the fox in charge of the hen house, something we may wish to change in the future. However, for better or for worse, this is the system that is currently in play.
It matters not why the legislative boundaries were carved the way they were ten years ago. What is important is that our elected representatives in Carson City draw boundaries that comport with the ideal of equal and fair representation.
Should the legislative body fall short in this regard, we must all hope that the Governor will use the power of the veto to insist that the boundaries drawn are fair to all the citizens of our great state. If he does not, the Republican Party should seek redress through the courts.
Failure to do so would be committing a grave disservice to all the people of Nevada – and certainly would be an affront to the goals and intentions of our Founding Fathers.
(Mr. Allott is owner of SMA Software Services, Inc. and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.)
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