Gerrymandering Run Amok

As a follow-up to the election, this post focuses on the age-old partisan practice of gerrymandering. Each census cycle, the two dominant parties re-draw congressional districts to stack them in favor of one or the other party. Just like in political messaging, the Republican party, being more organized and cohesive, is much better at this than the continually inept Democratic party (I am baffled as to why they still can’t get their act together). This will not be about either party though. It’s about the now out of control, blatantly partisan, process that carves up territory down to the street level to lock in one party’s candidate. The intended effect is to negate all votes for the party in the minority in that district. So much for every vote counting.

In New Jersey for example – see link to NJ congressional district map below – where there are 21 counties, several districts contain bits and pieces of at least 4, with one touching 6. That last district was flipped to Republican from Democrat by the committee re-drawing the lines. My home state is far from alone in the ever-increasing partisanship dividing us so the powers that be can remain in power – or overthrow the other side with ease. Many cities and towns are split into 2 or more districts as a blatant power grab to negate the votes of those supporting the party that is now the minority in at least 1 of those districts. If the splits are artful enough, each district will be so one-sided that only 1 party’s votes will count.

While gerrymandering rigs outcomes to many congressional district elections, it did not stop a huge voter turnout last week. One thing the sh**-show in DC has done is to mobilize people on both sides of the aisle to speak up and get out to vote. That’s a good thing, but unless something is done about outrageously partisan gerrymandering, I fear that momentum will be lost as people see that their votes in congressional and presidential elections are marginalized. Is it any wonder why so many Americans feel disenfranchised?

I’ve long thought there has to be a less partisan way to re-draw the maps after every census cycle. One that I think would stop a good deal of the power grabs would be to require districts to contain complete and contiguous zip codes. While not a perfect solution, at least there would be some logic involved in creating the maps. Voters in the minority party could still be disadvantaged, as there is no way to completely avoid that in our current system. But the impact would not be nearly as bad as it is now with ever-more-creative district boundaries.

It is our job to preserve this democratic republic, and without everyone’s participation, it can easily crumble under totalitarian rule. Keep speaking up to support your beliefs and your preferred candidates and keep voting in every election. It will take time but if we all stay involved, are knowledgeable about the key issues, and make our voices heard at the ballot box, we can and will make a difference.

New Jersey Congressional District Map 2022: https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/gis/maps/congressional2232.pdf

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 11-14-2022