California’s Citizen Redistricting Commission, Electoral Competitiveness and Political Polarization

Abstract

Passage of Proposition 20 in California in 2010 transferred the power to redistrict congressional seats from the state legislature to a new independent redistricting commission. The goals of this transfer were to increase electoral accountability, to reduce partisan bias, to promote greater transparency and to bolster public trust. In this paper, I analyze the impact of Proposition 20 on electoral accountability by examining its effect on electoral competitiveness and political polarization. The evidence in the paper demonstrates that Proposition 20 has enhanced competitiveness and reduced polarization but that these effects are modest to date.