Local Event to Explore Gerrymandering Reform

Above: Michigan’s 8^th Congressional District, in which East Lansing falls, courtesy Wikipedia.

East Lansing High School’s cafeteria will now be serving as the location of an informational event about gerrymandering in Michigan. The event, scheduled for this Sunday, February 19, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., will be hosted by the Michigan Election Reform Alliance (MERA) and is set to focus on two questions: “What is the problem? How do we solve it?”

According to the organizers, the meeting has been moved from an earlier-planned location because of high local interest.

In an article for the Washington Post explaining gerrymandering, Christopher Ingraham defines gerrymandering as “drawing political boundaries to give your party a numeric advantage over an opposing party.”

Judy Karandjeff, President League of Women Voters of Michigan, will be one of the panelists at the event. She tells ELi, “The League of Women Voters of Michigan is leading a citizen, non-partisan effort to educate voters on redistricting around the state since 2015. It is important for Michigan voters to know how their elected officials are selected and how that impacts their lives.”

Walt Sorg is board member of MERA and the other panelist scheduled for Sunday’s event. Sorg tells ELi, “Political maps are drawn in a way that protects incumbents from public pressure: in the vast majority of districts, we know the winning party before candidates are even nominated.”

Sorg adds, “The way we draw congressional and legislative districts in most states is a national embarrassment. Politicians effectively choose their voters; voters should choose their politicians.”

Why is interest in—and concern about—gerrymandering suddenly up? According to Sorg, “The last election demonstrated a feeling shared by many voters that their voices aren’t being heard. A big part of that is because all too often their votes in general elections for Congress and the Legislature are meaningless — we know the winning party before the votes are counted.” He says many voters want reform.

In response to questions from ELi, the organizers of Sunday’s event made clear they believe voters of all political affiliations should care about this issue. In Sorg’s words, “Both major political parties play partisan games with district maps whenever and wherever they have the power to do so….it really hurts all voters.”

He explains that “a system where there are very few competitive districts means that candidates will focus on the people who can elect them in the primary. They have little political incentive to worry about the concerns of people in the other party.” By contrast, he says, “Reform will inevitably create a greater number of competitive districts where candidates have to attract votes from a broad spectrum of voters in order to win.”

Patrick Rose, also a board member of MERA and the moderator for Sunday’s event, says Sunday’s event will include a slide presentation to show examples of gerrymandering in Michigan. Besides the presentation and the panel discussion, there will be a question-and-answer period.

Rose tells ELi, “This is an educational event. The goal is to understand the dimensions of the issue as well as give a background for how it arose, solutions adopted in other states and available solutions.” According to Rose, both major parties in Michigan—Democrat and Republican—have gerrymandered in an effort to retain power when they have been in power.

Rose says he expects the discussion will include actions that might be taken by voters, by citizens, and by courts to try to mitigate party-power-consolidation through gerrymandering. He suggests that questions for Sunday’s discussion could include: What would non-partisan redistricting look like? What states (like California) have appointed independent commissions to draw political map, and was this change beneficial in any way?

According to Rose, “These are practical concerns for every citizen and voter. They have an impact in how we are governed, the nature of our elections, the impact of one's vote, levels of partisanship and a host of other ways the political system responds to voters. These are very far from mere academic concerns.”​