Proposition 50 does exactly what critics warned it would: it has now sidelined California’s independent redistricting commission for congressional seats until 2032, and it has substituted a set of partisan maps designed to flip five Republican-held districts into reliable Democratic seats, while shoring up Democrats in an equal number of competitive seats.

What makes its passage especially striking is that Californians overwhelmingly like the independent commission. According to a Public Policy Institute of California survey taken last month, 72 percent of voters say it has been “mostly a good thing” that redistricting authority was taken away from politicians and given to the citizens’ commission in 2010. That view holds across party lines, across regions, and across demographic groups —

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