BY STACY SOBOTKA
(Photo by Stacy Sobotka)
Gerrymandering has become a hot topic in Michigan and many want to know how to stop it.
The Romeo Community Center was full of residents eager to participate in a town hall meeting focusing on gerrymandering Thursday night.
Hosted by the Romeo chapter of the American Association of University Women, the group Voters Not Politicians came to educate the public and get them involved.
Voters Not Politicians (VNP) is an all-volunteer grassroots foundation concerned about gerrymandering and its effect on the residents of Michigan.
VNP State Field Director Jamie Lyons-Eddy gave a presentation on what gerrymandering is, how it affects voters, and what can be done to stop it.
Gerrymandering is the political manipulation of district maps for politicians’ advantage. District boundaries are updated every 10 years, based on population statistics.
Lyons-Eddy used a diagram to simplify the idea of gerrymandering. She showed a square consisting of 49 residents with 24 green and 25 yellow voters.
“If we were to draw seven districts fairly, how should it come out, do you think?” she asked. “It might even go back and forth, depending on the year.”
She showed strategies used to draw up the districts. They are called packing, a term used to describe concentrating the opposing party’s voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts, and cracking, which dilutes the voting power of the opposing party’s supporters across many districts.
Other terms explained were kidnapping and hijacking.
“(Kidnapping is where officials) will draw the districts right around somebody’s house. (Hijacking is) where they draw the districts to make sure that two representatives both live in the same district and have to fight it out with each other. Whoever holds the map drawing pen can kind of do whatever they want,” Lyons-Eddy said.
On a map of Michigan, the state and congressional districts have very odd shapes and spiraling curves.
Lyons-Eddy explained that if one drives from Campus Martius in downtown Detroit up Woodward Avenue to downtown Pontiac, they will change congressional districts six times.
“We’re in the 14th (district) three different times,” she said.
Gerrymandering is a non-partisan issue.
“Both parties do it if they can,” Lyons-Eddy said. “It’s a case of the fox being in charge of the henhouse.”
Over one-third of Michigan voters consider themselves moderate, yet only one percent of state house representatives are moderate.
A poll on gerrymandering determined that both Democrats and Republicans agree that partisan redistricting manipulation needs to be stopped.
So what can people do? That’s where Voters Not Politicians comes in.
“Our proposal is to take that redistricting process out of the hands of the people that have a conflict of interest and give it to ordinary citizens,” Lyons-Eddy said.
VNP wants the state to create an independent citizens redistricting commission. It would consist of 13 members, all registered voters consisting of four Republicans, four Democrats and five independents with representation across the state.
Applicants would need to state which party they are affiliated with and not be or be closely related to a political insider, including a candidate for partisan office, elected official to a partisan office, registered lobbyist, or a party officer.
Mapping of districts is currently done behind closed doors and only require equal populations and rules according to the Voting Rights Act.
The commission mapping would also make sure there were no unfair advantages, respect boundaries, and that all data methods would be publicly available.
Public hearings would also be held to obtain public input and share details about the mapping process.
VNP is currently gathering signatures for a petition to put a proposal on the November 2018 election ballot. The ballot language will ask voters to approve an amendment to be added to the state constitution for the formation of an independent citizens redistricting commission.
“Those are the critical words to remember when reading your ballot,” said Lyons-Eddy.
Eight states have redistricting commissions, including California.
One attendee who did not want to be named said her sister worked as a commissioner in California.
“She said she felt it was the fairest, most positive thing she ever did as a citizen. She said she was shocked how interested people were in it and really how committed they were to the idea once it was established. They would never be able to reverse it in California,” she said.
Who is against this ballot issue? “Primarily it’s entrenched politicians who are in power,” Lyons-Eddy said.
The petition drive started Aug. 17 and will continue until February. Over 300,000 signatures have been collected so far, and the goal is 400,000.
Afterwards, residents were invited to sign petitions, make donations to help with litigation costs, and sign up to volunteer.
Anyone who would like to volunteer, make a donation, or get more information may visit their website at www.votersnotpoliticians.com. They can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
