The political contours of a legislative or Congressional district would be fair game as part of a realtor’s pitch if a proposed bill wins approval in the Arizona State Legislature.
Republican State Senator Justine Wadsack has introduced legislation that would make it legal for real estate agents to disclose information regarding the voting trends of a district where a would-be homebuyer is thinking of moving.
Speaking before the legislature’s Senate Government Committee, Wadsack, by way of an example, said if prospective Democrat homebuyers want to move into a Democrat area “they should know that they’re moving into a Democrat area.”
Wadsack said that disclosing such information should be little different than revealing what school district a home may be located in, a topic that often animates realtor/homebuyer discussions.
She additionally noted that while such details are publicly available, it is not always easy for homebuyers to look through databases and public records to find out such information on their own.
While some members of the committee have worried that the dissemination of such information might lead to the practice of redlining, the discriminatory practice of making certain services unavailable for neighborhoods with large minority populations, others said they thought the information may well encourage civic engagement.
It might increase “civic knowledge and participation,” remarked Democrat Senator Priya Sundareshan of Senate Bill 1581.
The Senate Government Committee has approved the bill on a 5 to 1 vote and sent it to the full Senate for review.
That homebuyers may increasingly be interested in living in politically amenable neighborhoods is a trend that has been identified by public surveys. In 2020 the Pew Center for Research disclosed the results of a poll showing that 53% of self-identified liberal Democrats and 47% of conservative Republicans “place importance on living in a community where most share their political views.”
By Garry Boulard
