St. Louis Public Radio: “St. Louis voters put city ward redistricting in residents’ hands, approve $50M bond issue”

“St. Louis aldermen will no longer draw their own ward maps every 10 years.

Voters in the city on Tuesday approved Proposition R, which turns the redistricting process over to a citizens commission. Final unofficial results show the measure receiving 69% approval, well over the 60% needed for charter changes.

‘To see the voice of the people being listened to is amazing,’ said LaShana Lewis, the chair of the board for the Show Me Integrity Education Fund, a nonprofit set up to help support good governance initiatives. ‘People wanted to be listened to. I think more than anything it speaks to transparency. A lot of people are like, ‘I really want to see what’s going on in my government.’

In addition to creating the citizens redistricting initiative, Proposition R requires aldermen to make their financial disclosure forms public and strengthens conflict of interest provisions.”

Read the full story on its original platform here.