Democrats’ Chicago-style gerrymandering
Yesterday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Initiative 132, which would create a bi-partisan commission to redraw legislative and Congressional districts, would not appear on the ballot because it did not stick to a single subject. Ballot initiatives in Colorado must be one subject only, and the court ruled that this initiative had three subjects.
The initiative would have called for a commission composed of four Republicans, four Democrats, and four unaffiliated members to redraw Congressional and legislative districts. Naturally, Democrats were opposed to such a fair process and claimed that such a fair process would “weaken minority voting blocks”. Currently, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires districts to be drawn to ensure that minorities are elected to office in proportion to their share of the population. This is simply a false argument as some organizations like the American Enterprise Institute claim that the gerrymandered districts required by this law have outlived their usefulness.
But, it’s a good sound byte for the left. But, it’s terrible policy for the right. Last election cycle, Republican House candidates received 189,000 more votes than their Democratic counterparts, yet still remained in the minority, where they will likely stay for the time being. If that’s not gerrymandering at its worst, we don’t know what is.