Gerrymandering: How it cheats voters

To the Times: This has been an election like no other in recent history and the country is still in the throes of accusations of Alternative Facts, Leaks and Fake News. Distractions abound as we look forward to 2018 when the whole House and onethird of the Senate will be up for election. But, just as pressing, is our own Primary Election just weeks away. This is where politicians earn their stripes and it is important to choose carefully.

There are several closeto-home problems that require immediate attention. You will want to ask local candidates how they stand on such things as gerrymandering, the Electoral College and Voter ID. Each of these laws affect our elections in very special ways. The League’s immediate concern is the upcoming census and the drawing of sensible and fair districts in 2020.

Gerrymandering is often mentioned but not always well understood. It is a deliberate action taken by a number of states, including Pennsylvania, to draw voting districts to “guarantee” a seat for one party or the other. The politicians who vote for these gerrymandered districts are often quite open that it was a deliberate effort to lessen the impact of certain voters.

The 2020 census, which coincides with the next presidential race, will mandate the redistricting of all states based on the new census figures. It is important to pass laws that make gerrymandering illegal before the new lines are drawn.

The League of Women Voters is joining the ACLU and Common Cause in their efforts to take the redistricting in all states out of the hands of the politicians. The time to start is now to apply the pressures necessary to make the changes needed before the census takes place. Your vote for a candidate who opposes gerrymandering is a step in the right direction to make the needed changes.

The gerrymandering, some of which has been overturned by the courts, has affected the outcomes of elections just as surely as any meddling by outside players. As we seek to find ways to keep outside forces from playing a key role in our internal affairs we must seek to clean up our own act by passing suitable legislation to remove our gerrymandered districts.

It is almost funny to see the ridiculous ways some ingenious politicians have redrawn districts in order to “save a seat.”

But that humor is lost when, even if every person in a district votes, gerrymandering means there is little or no chance of a seat changing from Red to Blue or vice versa.

It is not fraud by the voting public that has, over the years, changed how our elections have been impacted, but the meddling with the census figures and the gerrymandering that has been fraudulent.

You can help remedy this travesty by getting involved with the League of Women Voters, Common Cause the ACLU, or Fair Districts PA, and supporting this much needed legislation.