THE CITY OF NEW YORK

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

N E W Y O R K , N Y 10 00 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 13, 2010
No. 507
www.nyc.gov

MAYOR BLOOMBERG RELEASES REPORT SHOWING THAT NONPARTISAN

REDISTRICTING WOULD INCREASE COMPETITION, CHOICE AND
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR NEW YORKERS

Report Shows that Elections in States with Nonpartisan Redistricting are 14% Closer for State
Legislatures and 24% Closer for Congress; State Legislature Candidates were also 20% Less
Likely to be Unopposed

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today released a report showing that nonpartisan reforms to
the redistricting process can increase the competitiveness of legislative elections at the state and
federal level. In the most recent elections, the report found that across the country, 49 percent of
candidates elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and 57 percent of candidates elected to
state legislatures won their races with margins of victory greater than 30 points, or faced no
opposition at all. States with nonpartisan redistricting had races that were, on average, 14 percent
closer for the state legislature and 24% closer for congress, and candidates in state legislative
districts drawn through a nonpartisan process were 20 percent less likely to run unopposed. Mayor
Bloomberg joined former Mayor Ed Koch in urging the New York State Legislature to create an
independent commission to re-draw state legislative and congressional district lines in advance of
the 2012 elections.

“The current system for drawing districts protects incumbents, promotes ideological
extremism, and reduces voter choice,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Gerrymandering is part of the
reason why compromise and bi-partisanship are so rare these days. Voters in California and Florida
overwhelmingly passed redistricting reforms in recent elections, and there’s no reason why,
working with Ed Koch and our state legislative leaders, we can’t do the same here. It would be one
of the best things to happen to Albany since the building of the Erie Canal.”

The report compared state and federal legislative elections in 35 states that give redistricting
authority to the legislature to the 13 states where there is some form of a nonpartisan process (only
7 states have non-partisan congressional redistricting). The 13 states with a nonpartisan process
have, on average, 20 percent fewer uncontested state legislative races. Margins of victory were 14
percent lower (24 points vs. 28 points) in state legislative races and 24 percent lower (21 points vs.
28 points) in congressional races. The experience of the two states (Arkansas and Ohio) that give
the governor and other state-wide elected officials control over the redistricting process largely
mirrored that of the 35 states in which partisan redistricting occurs through the legislature.

(more)
 The report also found that the three states with a “Top Two” election system or a
nonpartisan legislature (Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska) also produced substantially more
competitive elections, and large cities with nonpartisan elections were found to have city council
races that were 24 percent closer than their partisan counterparts. Mayor Bloomberg supported
recent, successful efforts in California and Florida to remove or reduce partisan control from the
redistricting process.

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Contact: Stu Loeser (212) 788-2958