Does the term “redistricting” cause you to roll your eyes back into your head and pray for a change of topic?
Trust me, you’re far from alone!
This decennial process, prompted by the US Census, was initially intended to protect the best interests of American citizens by balancing populations across congressional districts following the 10-year population count. The thought was that people would move, socio-economics and human migratory patterns would shift, and those shifting populations could impact various congressional districts.
Unfortunately, what we ended up with has very little to do with the interests of voters and far more to do with the accumulation of political power and influence of Republicans and Democrats.
There’s no moral high ground for either party. In GOP-dominated states, Republicans manipulate the process to maximize their own electoral choices, and in Democrat-controlled state (like Maryland), the Democrats do exactly the same thing.
We’ll focus on Maryland, since we’re most impacted by what happens here, but for the record, I’m stipulating that the Republic Party is equally to blame for this ridiculous activity.
Gerrymandering, or intentionally manipulating political boundaries to favor one party, has been going on since the earliest days of our Constitutional Republic. The most egregious example led to the naming of the practice. Massachusetts lawmaker Elbridge Gerry drew one specific district so incredibly badly that it was called a Gerrymander due to its resemblance to a salamander.
We’ve seen the same thing here in Maryland. One particularly silly district boundary in the last go-around was referred to as a “pterodactyl lying on its side along the upper Chesapeake Bay”. The fights are predictable, as Republicans blame the Democrats for their corrupt cartography while the Democrats pretend to be totally fair while also pointing out that Republicans in other states are just as suspiciously motivated.
Governor Larry Hogan attempted an end-around. He appointed a map-making commission comprised of Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated citizens to draw fairer maps unburdened by political motivation. Most observers credited this group with drawing more balanced maps than those drawn by the General Assembly panel. As one might expect, Hogan’s Commission maps never even saw the light of legislative day.
So the maps created by the House Speaker and Senate President, clearly designed to benefit the majority party, passed easily along party lines. This map placed the sole Republican in the Maryland House delegation, District 1 Rep. Andy Harris, in a MUCH tougher district by bringing District 1 across the Bay Bridge well into Anne Arundel County. Yes, you read that right, a legislative district that crossed a bridge span. Not a single voter on the several-mile stretch of bridge infrastructure. This action egregiously violated multiple tenants of the map-making criteria, including respecting natural boundaries and recognizing differing political subdivisions.
One of Maryland’s most-respected jurists, Judge Lynn Battaglia, a retired Court of Appeals judge brought in to handle this case, issued a formal objection on Friday, March 24 to the map, citing her disgust with the strongest language I’ve ever read in one of these cases. She essentially accused the General Assembly and their mapmakers (including longtime Dept of Legislative Services Director Karl Aro) of failing to meet any of the constitutional criteria.
This out-of-hand rejection was totally unexpected, mostly because the majority party in Maryland is used to controlling all the levers, ergo few have ever been able to completely reject their efforts. Even Maryland Attorney General Brain Frosh was caught flat-footed, as he had given his assurance that the maps were legit.
Following Judge Barbara’s order, the House Speaker and Senate President were given 5 days to return with a Congressional map that would comply with the Maryland Constitution. After taking over seven months to draw their initial map, including regional public hearings all across the state, they pulled a new map out their hats after just 24 hours of work. Realigned districts that resolved some, but not all, of the most outlandish partisan manipulation, were unveiled on Monday evening, March 28th. Then, in a stunningly nontransparent move, the legislative leaders held an 8:30am virtual pubic hearing on Tuesday, March 29. After taking some comments from legislators (hint: Democrats love it, Republicans hate it), they allowed the public to comment. That is, they allowed the four (4) people who even knew about it, and were up and online early enough to register, that is.
To be clear and fair, the new map is better. It’ll probably pass muster with the Court. The First District boundary no longer crosses the Bay Bridge. The Third District is slightly less outrageous than the first attempt.
But make no mistake, this is STILL a really partisan map. Baltimore City voters, almost exclusively Democrats, are split into three congressional district, just to increase the vote tally to ensure a Democrat is elected. Baltimore City voters have almost nothing in common with the Baltimore County, Harford County, or Carroll County voters they’ll find themselves aligned with. Western Maryland (Garrett, Alleghany and Washington) have NOTHING in common with suburban Montgomery County voters, either. But the Democrat map-makers knew they had to offset those conservatives with a bunch of liberal MoCo voters to keep a Republican from winning the Sixth District.
But please remember, take the outrage from Republicans with a heavy dose of salt when they complain about partisan gerrymandering in Maryland. Republican gerrymandering has also resulted in Court’s rejecting THEIR maps in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and a few other states, too.
When political parties place their accumulation of power of the best interests of the voters, the only winners are those partisans, never the public.
– Rick Weldon, President & CEO
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