By Dale Lucht

We are currently hearing a lot of talk about gerrymandering. Where did the term originate from? It comes from Governor Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts. In 1812 his party enacted a law that consolidated the Federalist Party vote into a  few districts and thus gave disproportionate representation to the Democratic-Republicans. The outline of one of these districts was thought to resemble a salamander. A satirical cartoon in the Boston Gazette transformed the districts into a fabulous animal: The Gerry-Mander.

Elbridge Gerry was a founding father and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the fifth Vice President of the United States, under James Madison. He served from 1813 until his death in 1814. I’m assuming that of all the accomplishments of Elbridge Gerry he would be disheartened that gerrymandering is what he is remembered for.

Gerrymandering has been used by both parties for years. There is usually an ethnic and racial bias, but always a political bias from those in power. Mainly the perception that the party in power wants to dilute the voting power of their opposition.  Our Congressional Districts are agreed upon depending on the population of the state after the decennial census. The average congressional district contains about 761,091 people. Large cities are usually considered democratic, and small towns and rural communities are considered republican. Of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts two are held by Democrats, Madison and Milwaukee. The other six are held by Republicans. They each average about 730,000 people. In that respect it sounds equal, but if you look at statewide elections it doesn’t really feel fair. We have two Senators, one Democrat and one Republican. We have a Democratic Governor. So, by party affiliation we’re pretty even, so if we had fair congressional districts Wisconsin should have four Republican and four Democratic Representatives.

Now I may be old-fashioned, but I believe if you have sound ideas and an honest message you shouldn’t have to cheat. Mr. Trump does not believe in fair play, any time he can skewer the outcome, he will. Now I don’t believe he has a brilliant mind, and I know that he doesn’t have a good idea for his party to run on, so he suggested to Texas to redistrict their congressional districts and give him more Republican Congressmen.

Texas has voted to rearrange their congressional districts for the next elections, eliminating Democratic incumbent seats and possibly picking up five or six more Republican seats. This is what happens when you have a conservative Supreme Court. I shouldn’t say conservative in a bad way, I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with being fiscally conservative, but what these judges believe is that they know what the original founding fathers meant and then make their decisions on that hazy history. Two hundred and fifty years have passed, and many things have changed, it is time for those people to get out of the eighteenth century, and into the twenty-first. Anyway, in 2019 the Court’s conservative majority declared (5-4) that “partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” Rucho v. Common Cause.

This ruling is what allows individual states to decide when and if they can redistrict their Congressional Districts. Before the above court ruling, districts were rearranged after the decennial census. Missouri has also changed their map and has possibly added another Republican district. In response to Texas, California is looking at redistricting, in the Democrats favor. Governor Newsom has proposed the” Election Rigging Response Act” which would allow California to allow new districts for the 2026.2028 and 2030 elections. On November 4^th California voters will vote on this proposal.  If successful, that would check Texas Republican’s power grab.  Stay tuned for the battle.

In Wisconsin, the state legislature has the constitutional responsibility for drawing district maps. They usually set up a bipartisan committee, but there are always more members of one party. The governor can veto their decision. If no consensus the State Supreme Court can step in and make the final decision.

It has been said that Socrates had a thousand questions, but no answers. I of course am no Socrates; I have more than one name. My suggestion is to make it illegal to change congressional districts between the ten-year censuses. Within a year of the census new districts must be drawn, and more than this they must be in geometric shapes. Other than rivers and state boundaries the districts must have straight lines. No more straggly lines that follow cow paths. I’m all for squares and hexagrams, and parallelograms, even a triangle if you must, but no circles. Circles would make it much more confusing.

Remember cheating is for those who don’t have good ideas.