Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the population, and legislatures all over the United States use that information to redraw the boundaries of legislative districts. The idea, enshrined in the Constitution, is to provide equal representation to each voter.

But in practice, legislators often have a different goal: keeping their jobs and maintaining their party's control. They draw the new boundaries to keep incumbents in office, unless, of course, the incumbents are members of the minority party. Utahns witnessed a vivid demonstration of that in 2001. Why else would Tooele County be divided among four different Senate districts, resulting in its not being represented by anyone who lives there?

That kind of chicanery cements one-party rule and undercuts the ideals of a republic. Citizens in a dozen states, including three of Utah's neighbors, got so fed up with corrupt redistricting that they took the process away from their legislatures and put it in the hands of independent, bipartisan commissions. Utahns should do the same, and they're about to get that chance.

A group called the Fair Boundaries Coalition has vowed to file an initiative petition next month that would put a bipartisan redistricting commission plan on the 2010 ballot. But for that to happen, it must overcome Utah's onerous requirement that the sponsors gather signatures equal to 10 percent of the vote in the last governor's election across 26 of the state's 29 Senate districts. That's about 95,000 signatures. That hurdle is so high that it has broken many another initiative petition drive.

The plan for the redistricting commission has not yet been filed, so its details are not available. But it may be modeled on a bill that was filed in this year's Legislature. It provided for a nine-member bipartisan commission. Eight members would be appointed by the leaders of the majority and minority parties in the House and Senate. The ninth member would be selected by a consensus of both sides and would serve as chair. Elected officials and lobbyists could not serve on the commission, and a member of the commission could not run for an office whose district the commission had determined.

In any case, the commission would be charged to create districts of equal populations that also are contiguous and reasonably compact and respect existing boundaries of cities and counties. It would create a matrix to score the fairness of competing plans.

It's a better, fairer way to draw a political map.