Rep. Blake Moore recently spoke out against the outrageously undemocratic redistricting plan in Texas, calling it “a step too far.” I laud him for that, especially considering how all other Utah representatives and senators are praising Texas’ high-handed efforts to disenfranchise Democratic voters.
However, I would like to ask Moore just how the Texas plan differs in principle from Utah’s own fairly recent redistricting scheme, whose only goal was to ensure that no Democrats could win a seat in Congress and to greatly dilute the Democrats’ power in the state Legislature.
One difference is indeed that Utah did not attempt to redraw their maps mid-term in order to influence an immediately upcoming election, as Texas is doing. However, Utah Republicans showed their lack of concern for democracy when, after the people objected to the redistricting plan and proposed a fair and democratic one through the group Better Boundaries, (of which Moore was originally Republican co-chair), the Republican-controlled Legislature refused to abide by the will of the people. Instead, they gutted the proposal offered by Better Boundaries and redrew the maps so that only reliably Republican districts were created, whereas at least one reliably Democratic district should exist.
I appreciate the fact that Moore is the only one among our Utah representatives and senators who has spoken out about the Texas redistricting plan, but the Utah map looks very much like the one proposed for Texas. I will have more faith in Moore’s integrity and sense of democracy when he speaks out against Utah’s own undemocratic redistricting.
Will you please do that, Rep. Moore?
Jerry Weatherford, Spanish Fork
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