More than 30,000 people applied by last Tuesday's deadline for the 14 seats on a citizen commission that will redo the state's allegedly gerrymandered district lines in time for the 2012 elections.
The commission is a key step toward making good on Proposition 11, the 2008 ballot measure that requires California to clean up the way legislative districts are mapped, a change supporters think will lead to less political partisanship.
Proponents of taking line-drawing duty away from officeholders said the sheer number of applicants was a pleasant surprise, considering that the process known as redistricting is inherently unsexy, the commission's task appears dizzying, and a new ballot effort by Democrats could keep the panel from ever serving.
"I'm thrilled that that many people said, 'Yes, devoting that much of my life to drawing Assembly and state Senate lines is something I want to do'," said Jessica Levinson, director of political reform for the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies. "It may show that citizens are really eager to take back some power from the politicians."
If all goes as backers envision, the 30,720 applicants will be winnowed down to the 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission. Then the commission will take state population information from the 2010 federal census and draw 80 Assembly, 40 state Senate and four Board of Equalization
districts that ensure fair representation for voters and competitive campaigns for candida