According to CountMIVote, a group of Michigan citizens working for non-partisan redistricting reform, “Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating political district boundaries to benefit a particular political party. Elected officials redraw district lines every decade, and the party in power can use the opportunity to move boundaries to minimize opponents’ votes and increase their odds of staying in power.”
For example, in the 2014 midterm election, Michigan voters cast 30,000 more ballots for Democrats than Republicans in the state’s House of Representatives races. Despite that, Republicans won, and continue to hold, a 63-47 advantage.
In the 2016 election, 48.3 percent of the votes cast for the US House Representatives were for Republicans and 46.6 percent for Democrats in the State of Michigan. 5 percent voted for third party candidates.
Of the 14 individuals elected, nine were Republicans, five were Democrats, and zero were independents.
In this case, fewer than 50 percent of votes makes up 64.3 percent of the Michigan congressional delegation.
I recently attended an educational event sponsored by two nonpartisan organizations: Voters Not Politicians and CountMIVote. They shared information on the history of gerrymandering across the country in general, and in Michigan, to show the need for redistricting reform.
“Gerrymandering often results in oddly shaped districts, where cities, townships and even neighborhoods are split and sliced apart. Two primary tactics for gerrymandering are ‘cracking’ and ‘packing.’
Cracking refers to drawing lines such that similar voters are split into multiple districts, thereby limiting their collective power. Packing is the opposite, when lines are drawn to keep voters of a particular bent in a single district, to limit their influence in other districts.”
Gerrymandering affects not only the outcome of elections, but this practice lessens the motivation for compromise. With elections being decided even before candidates are selected, there is no motivation for elected officials to work with their constituents or other Congressman who may have different points of view.
To accomplish the goal of politically safe districts, communities are divided. One example is the city of Lansing which is divided into three districts.
The citizens of Lansing are not able to voice their concerns as a united community because they are divided between the three separate districts.
Redistricting Reform is the right thing to do for all of the people of Michigan. “Voters Not Politicians” is a nonpartisan group that will begin circulating petitions this summer in support of a state constitutional amendment that will establish a nonpartisan approach to redistricting which benefits all Michiganders.
I encourage the people of Michigan to learn more about this topic and support the upcoming state constitutional amendment, by visiting votersnotpoliticians.com/about.
Peggy Getty
St. Joseph