All On The Line Statement on Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Applicants

For Immediate Release:
October 7th, 2020

Contact:
Kendra Alvarez
alvarez@redistrictingaction.org

All On The Line Arizona opposes conservative activist under consideration as an “Independent” to the Independent Redistricting Commission

Throughout the process of selecting commissioners for the Independent Redistricting Commission, All On The Line Arizona has repeatedly emphasized that applicants who claim to be “Independent” must actually have an independent record that assures the public they will be a neutral arbiter as Chair of the Commission. In advance of Thursday’s Commission on Appellate Court Appointment meeting, All On The Line Arizona unequivocally opposes the candidacy of Nicholas Dranias because he fails to meet that standard.

Dranias is clearly a conservative activist and political insider, which makes him unfit to serve as the Independent Chair of this commission. As a Goldwater Institute attorney, he represented a hyper conservative think-tank that peddles extreme positions that are ill-informed at best, and anti-democratic at worst.

One example of Dranias’s work that alone should be disqualifying is his attempt to dismantle a key piece of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that was designed to protect minority voting rights. Dranias wrote this amicus brief, encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court to abandon Section 5 of the VRA, a critical piece of legislation that had been protecting minority communities in Arizona and the rest of the country from discriminatory attacks on their voting rights. It is unconscionable for the committee to move forward with Dranias as an independent arbiter of fair maps for all Arizonans, when it’s clear he supports the far-right agenda to tear down minority voting rights. He simply cannot be trusted to lead an independent redistricting process that ensures every community in Arizona has a say in the process.

The Independent commissioner must serve as the Chair of the Commission, taking on a leadership role among their colleagues in order to build consensus from Republican and Democratic commissioners. This person must be open-minded and willing to listen to and engage with feedback from Arizonans across the state during public testimony in order to uphold our confidence in the integrity of the redistricting commission. Dranias clearly has a conservative agenda that absolutely disqualifies him from consideration as an “independent” commissioner and he cannot be trusted to oversee a fair commission process.

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