Letters from the Election Office | Part II
If reasonable people don’t offer to serve, then those who do serve might not be reasonable.
Still wondering what we can do to make a difference, what you can do to promote and preserve our democracy? Let’s take a look at how extremely partisan gerrymandering has become.
The power of incumbency is incredible when it comes to being re-elected.
Throw in a district that has been gerrymandered by a computer algorithm. This algorithm was designed specifically to maximize partisanship so we end up with incumbents who are nearly unbeatable.
Not every state has partisan gerrymandering at the Congressional level. As it turns out:
- 11 states have non-politician commissions that draw the maps
- 33 states have legislative dominant commissions
- a few states have just a single congressional seat
Wouldn’t it be great if we, the voters, could tell our elected officials that we wanted the maps drawn in a non-partisan manner?
In some states that is possible, through Voter Ballot Initiatives. Voters get a say in what extra items might be on the ballot, like a state constitutional amendment mandating non-partisan gerrymandering.
18 states allow ballot initiatives:
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Dakota
Of those 18 states, 13 currently have the legislature draw the district maps. Those states are: Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota
Take Action: If you live and vote in one of these states, take a moment to search in your area to see what ballot initiatives might be out there.
There are already organizations out there, set up to try and make these changes. Some of those are partisan. Rather than put a bunch of hyperlinks in this. I’ll let those interested do their own search, following their own persuasions.
It’s not easy, and it’s not accessible for everyone, but it’s a start.
There is everything from ballotpedia.org to commoncause.org, and everything in between.
If you are interested, please take an hour down the rabbit hole, and do a search.
Next time we’ll talk a bit about voting down ballot.
Until the next Letter from the Election Office
