Arizona redistricting panel OK’s starting-point grid map

By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona commission charged with redrawing maps for congressional and legislative districts every decade has approved its basic starting-point grid maps. Tuesday’s unanimous vote kicks off a months-long process with major political implications for the power of Arizona political parties. The district boundaries will be heavily tweaked before being finalized. The grid maps for the state’s nine congressional and 30 legislative districts are vastly different than the state’s current map. They are also nothing like what the final new maps will outline. The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Chair called the map “an arbitrary starting point.” How it is changed could have vast political consequences by giving one political party heavy advantages in the coming decade.