In a strike back on the Trump administration and Texas Republicans, who recently advanced their own redistricting plan to increase their seats in the House of Representatives, California will be voting on a new plan, Proposition 50, to redraw congressional maps and add up to five new Democratic seats. While Democratic candidates would have to win their districts in order to secure the full five seats, the proposition sparks questions about the social depravity and future implications of gerrymandering in elections. On Nov. 4, Bruins among the state will be voting in a special election on Prop 50.
While Prop 50 is temporary and claims redistricting will return to routine operations in 2030, it is the concept itself of gerrymandering that Bruins feel conflicted by. Second-year political science student Mayra Cerda-Gonzalez specifically touched on the competitive nature of gerrymandering. She said, “The proposition lacks any acknowledgment of the implications this could have nationwide in terms of how this solves the gerrymandering back and forth. Realistically, this might have a domino effect and who is to say that this might not continue happening in coming years.” Cerda-Gonzalez’s sentiments express worry of the strategic obsession with competition by politicians in the future. The priorities of leadership have the potential to change and may move in the direction of harvesting institutional power for politicians instead of preserving the empowerment in voting.
The rhetoric surrounding Prop 50 has prioritized strengthening the Democratic Party’s power in the House of Representatives and diluting the power of Texas Republicans and the Trump administration. However, the architecture of gerrymandering has built it to be inherently racial, which is largely neglected in education on the proposition. A lecturer in the political science department, professor Izul de la Vega, clarified the way in which variables of gerrymandering exist and operate. She said, “When we talk about gerrymandering, there’s always racial elements of it. They’re not mutually exclusive.” The sentiments shared against Prop 50 by students stem from the innate fragmentation that it exploits in the political arena. In a state as heterogenous as California, the idea of weakening already marginalized votes is detested. Professor de la Vega said, “When you’re going to have a lot of ethnic diversity, racial diversity, you see it often align with the racial population because we’re racially segregated.” Regardless of Prop 50, populations alongside physical spaces are historically segregated and redlined. Neither Proposition 50 nor gerrymandering have the ability to isolate and seed out racial constructs because these constructs breathe life into the proposition and gerrymandering in the first place.
As for where Bruins are receiving information on the arguments for and against the proposition, television and social media have been flooded with advertisements accompanied by limited characterization. Fourth-year mechanical engineering student Gabby Townsend said, “I think my ultimate decision came down to looking at websites. Usually when I vote I like to use Ballotpedia, that’s what they taught us to use in our political science classes. It usually helps break down what they’re trying to say in the ballot.” Resources such as Ballotpedia, alongside those adjacent, including the California Voter Information Guide, can assist students in unraveling complexities of the proposition that television and social media have not sufficiently fleshed out. Not only are they a credible tool for detangling the voting process, but they are convenient and digestible for busy student voters.
Students shared nuanced frustrations with the systematic fire that Prop 50 fuels. Simultaneously, they feel entrapped in their choice to vote because it is a decision between action or inaction. On Nov. 4, Bruins will head to the polls to make their final decision. Polling centers in proximity to UCLA and Westwood can be found at Kerckhoff Grand Salon and the Hammer Museum’s Bay-Bay Nimoy Studio from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Featured Image Photographed by Sapna Drew/BruinLife
