Editorial: Not so fast, Clark County

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

Attorneys for the Legislature are correct in opposing Clark County's plan to draw new boundaries for its commission districts in advance of the 2010 Census. State law permits new boundaries, but the attorneys say they must be based upon official census figures.

Clark County, however, prefers an eight-year-old attorney general's opinion, which stated that commissioners can approve redistricting in between census years, using less precise population data.

The county says some districts have remained stable and others have had population bursts over the past six years. Ideally, boundaries should be such so that no district has a population of 5 percent more or less than any other district.

We have always opposed midcensus redistricting for many reasons. Democrat and Republican incumbents alike, for instance, have an interest in seeing their boundaries warped into shapes that will encompass voters belonging to their party. Also, it is very confusing for voters to have their districts changed more than every 10 years. Some voters are even disenfranchised because they can be moved from election-year districts into ones where elections are years away.

The county should abide by the opinion of the legislative attorneys and hold off on redistricting until after the 2010 Census.