By Jeff Ploussard | Representative democracy and capitalism are two ideas that have made our country a more perfect union. Competition is an essential ingredient in healthy capitalism. The innovations spawned by competition have allowed businesses to grow, prosper and create jobs. The breakup of monopolies has led to lower prices for consumers. Conversely, the system by which we elect our state and federal representatives has become increasingly monopolistic and undemocratic because of a practice called gerrymandering.
Ploussard
In 1812, a political cartoonist and journalist coined the term “gerrymander” to describe the practice of political parties drawing legislative districts to affect electoral outcomes. That year the Massachusetts legislature drew one new state senate district to favor the party of then Governor Elbridge Gerry. The cartoonist caricatured the district to look like a salamander to satirize the bizarre shape of the new district. From then on this partisan practice has been referred to as gerrymandering, a blend of the amphibian and Governor’s name.
To this day state legislatures continue to manipulate the boundaries after each population census to create a political advantage for the party in power. Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute calls gerrymandering “the pattern of lawmakers choosing their voters rather than voters choosing their lawmakers.”
The result has been more and more “safe” districts that are represented by the extreme wings of each major party. Consequently, competitive or “swing” districts have become extremely rare.
Most political scientists agree that partisan gerrymandering is a contributing factor to the current polarization and dysfunction of government. We have witnessed this most profoundly at the federal level where the legislative and executive branches have been controlled by the opposite parties in recent years. The Congress, fearing no repercussions at the ballot box, have held the President hostage on one issue after another throughout the Bush and Obama years.
Georgia is a classic example of how decades of gerrymandering has led to almost no competition between the parties in state and congressional elections. In the 2014 general election races, 78 percent were uncontested. In other words, in almost 4 out of 5 races, either a Democratic or Republican candidate was not on the ballot.
Uncontested races are a national trend and, even in contested races, the margins of victory have grown as gerrymandering grows. According to The Encyclopedia of American Politics (Ballotpedia.org), a landslide 35.8 percent was the average margin of victory in the 2014 U.S. House races.
So how do we reform the redistricting process in this country?
Today—due largely to grassroots efforts of citizens— several state legislatures and judicial bodies have acted to set up independent commissions to produce electoral maps that are more competitive, fair and representative. From May 24 to May 27, in a U.S. District Court in Wisconsin, a four-day trial was held in a lawsuit filed by voters against the state’s 2012 redistricting plan. Wisconsin awaits the court’s decision and joins a growing national campaign opposed to partisan gerrymandering.
In Georgia and 38 other states, partisan gerrymandering continues to undermine representative democracy. Voters in Georgia need to take a stand now to end gerrymandering by making sure redistricting reform legislation is passed by the General Assembly before the 2020 census. This will guarantee more competitive, fair and equally representative elections for Georgians. Contact your state legislators and governor today (http://openstates.org/ga/legislators/) and demand an end to partisan gerrymandering, monopolistic and undemocratic elections in Georgia.
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