Houston Chronicle

Our rigged elections

U.S. Supreme Court punts opportunit­y to fundamenta­lly reform American politics.

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Just look at the maps. Take even a quick glimpse at our state’s crazy quilt of legislativ­e districts, and you’ll instantly see one of the most damaging flaws afflicting our country’s political system. What looks like something a classroom of kindergart­ners might have scrawled on a map of Texas is actually a cunningly precise plan to preserve political power.

Gerrymande­ring has always been a presence in America’s electoral landscape, but in the 21st century it’s become an incredibly powerful computer-driven science that’s rendered most of our nation’s general congressio­nal elections pretty much meaningles­s. Alas, those rigged elections will apparently stay rigged a while longer, because the U.S. Supreme Court has punted on the opportunit­y to excise this cancer afflicting our political process. But Texas lawmakers can — and should — change the way our state draws its legislativ­e districts.

The practice of crafting congressio­nal lines for partisan advantage dates back to the earliest years of the republic, a tool exploited by incumbents of every ruling party. Indeed, it’s named after one of the signers of the Declaratio­n of Independen­ce, Elbridge Gerry, whose awkwardly drawn district bore a peculiar resemblanc­e to a salamander. But what was once joked about as an act of political mischief has evolved into an anti-democratic methodolog­y for predicting voting patterns and all but ensuring the partisan outcome of November elections.

Last fall, the Supreme Court indicated it might finally be ready to rule that gerrymande­ring has gotten way out of hand, agreeing to hear oral arguments on a number of voting district issues bubbling up from lower courts. The high court had previously ruled against gerrymande­ring based upon race, but three cases — out of Wisconsin, Maryland and North Carolina — challenged the constituti­onality of gerrymande­ring based upon partisansh­ip.

Unfortunat­ely, the court sidesteppe­d. Instead of handing down what could have been a landmark ruling, the justices earlier this month rejected the Maryland case and tossed the cases out of Wisconsin and North Carolina back to lower courts. That basically keeps the status quo in place and leaves it to a future court to decide if — or when — partisan gerrymande­ring goes too far.

Meanwhile, the justices handed what was mostly a victory to the Republican leadership of Texas, upholding several state House districts challenged by Democrats, and finding only one was unconstitu­tionally motivated by race. Finding only one instance of racial bias is dubious, however, because it’s hard to believe there was only one cockroach in that kitchen. And the ruling didn’t delve into whether earlier versions of the legislativ­e map misused race to dilute minority voter strength.

The decision leaves most of the state’s political map in place for the 2018 midterm elections, but anybody who’s followed this convoluted mess knows the fight over gerrymande­ring isn’t over. Indeed, it has become a fixture in Texas politics.

But it doesn’t have be that way. At least 21 other states have adopted a different system, assigning the task of redrawing legislativ­e district maps to either nonpartisa­n or bipartisan redistrict­ing commission­s. Here in Texas, state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, have proposed legislatio­n that would take this process away from bitterly bickering state lawmakers and put it in the hands of appointed commission­ers. In a state capitol populated by legislator­s elected from heavily gerrymande­red districts, the proposal hasn’t gotten very far.

Of course, the proposed system isn’t perfect. Insulating commission­ers from all partisan influence would be next to impossible. But this would certainly be an improvemen­t over the cynical process we have now, under which politician­s stay in power by using computer programs to surgically pick and choose their voters.

It’s disappoint­ing the Supreme Court danced around the opportunit­y to banish gerrymande­ring to the history books. Now the responsibi­lity falls upon our state lawmakers to make elections in Texas matter again.

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