Don’t divide county

It looks like the Republican-led Legislature is headed toward gerrymandering four congressional districts without using a crazy-looking map. It’s using the standard Republican tactic of divide and conquer.

Take the largest concentration of Democratic voters in the state and dilute them by putting hunks of them into three of the four districts.

Most other counties stay whole, each part of just one district. But not Pulaski; we would get three districts that, on the whole, will have little in common with a large urban area and its unique problems. The gall of such a blatant abuse of power is staggering.

As far as I can find in records, Pulaski County has never been split into two districts, let alone three.

We have four districts, just four. Not the several dozen of larger states, just four. The math to balance the vote count and keep counties whole for four districts is not rocket science, people.

If, as is claimed, Pulaski is being divvied up to balance the number of voters in each of the four districts, here’s an idea I’m sure would be fine with most: Take a county or two out of the district containing Pulaski and give them to another district or two. This will give more voters to the other three districts, but that’s OK. I’d much rather be in one district with fewer voters than the other three than have the biggest county diluted into three to balance the count. Keep Pulaski whole; it’s an urban area and needs one representative to get urban issues worked out.

STEVE HEYE Little Rock