We remember all too well the gerrymandering of 2011—one so blatant that the previous governor admitted it was all to benefit his party.
After all the bad blood over the lack of fairness, 2021 was going to be different, the politicians said. It was going to be “the most transparent redistricting process Maryland’s ever seen,” they said. But advocates had to plead with the politicians’ commission to meet at times when residents could actually participate. And for months, where draft maps for public comment should have been, there was a blank space instead.
The politicians attempted to shake it off, but it turns out their end game was the same all along—to rig the system to concentrate one party’s voters as much as possible. The partisan style of their maps is so outrageously unfair that the Princeton Gerrymandering Project gives failing grades to all four ‘concepts.’ Four maps, four Fs.
Even in our wildest dreams, we could not have anticipated their maps flunking across the board.
The pundits will say the people’s voice doesn’t matter, but the party bosses aren’t out of the woods yet. There’s still a chance to begin again.
A first in state history, Governor Hogan handed over his power to an independent citizens’ commission, a nonpartisan love story, which developed maps so fair that Princeton gave them straight As.
It’s not about red districts or blue districts. As the governor says, “I want what nearly all Marylanders want, which is fair maps and fair districts.”
We need to let parisian legislators know that when it comes to Maryland and gerrymandering, we are never ever getting back together.
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