St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Likely petition drive aims to yank redistricting task from St. Louis aldermen”

“A committee pushing to shift ward redistricting from the Board of Aldermen to an independent commission is on the verge of launching a petition drive to put the issue before city voters next November.

‘We’re ready to launch this campaign — but only if we hit our goal of raising $100,000 and recruiting 200 volunteers’ by Sunday, said Taylor Jackson, an official with Show Me Integrity, a group that organized the coalition. About $52,000 has been raised so far.

Under the coalition’s draft city charter amendment, the task of redrawing ward boundary lines would be given to a seven-member ‘People’s Commission’ that would be required to hold public hearings and follow various guidelines.

The current procedure of letting aldermen redraw ward boundaries after the federal census every 10 years gives them ‘the power to pick voters and opponents,’ the coalition said in a news release.”

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