Oct. 27, 2010

Don’t forget to vote this coming Tuesday, Nov. 2. This ballot is chalk full of important initiatives and key races for office. For a detailed description of many of the most important races and questions on your ballot, see our article, page 1. Additional ballot questions are listed on page 12.

This newspaper has not endorsed any individual candidate to date.

We would like to use this opportunity this week to remind voters there is an important city question, Question 3, which is of special importance to the Northeast after what happened this month at City Hall regarding redistricting.

Northeast, don’t forget who it was that got ignored and gerrymandered the worst this round of redistricting. It was you. The Northeast neighborhoods got carved up into three districts and denied any collective voting power — both as a neighborhood and for our booming Hispanic bloc.

Question 3 reads: “Shall the Charter of Kansas City be amended to only require redistricting of districts every 10 years in the year of the release of official census figures?” A “yes” vote would help Kansas City avoid the unfortunate situation it faced this year — rushing redistricting without accurate population data before filing started for the April council elections, only to have to turn around and do it over again next year when the 2010 census information is ready.

Redistricting every 10 years is a common method used by many cities across the nation. It is only fair that something as important as redistricting, which has the power to disenfranchise various groups, should be based on the most accurate information and not city guesstimates.