The News and Observer: Voter groups try to sideline politicians as states redraw district maps
As the Supreme Court prepares for arguments in October on partisan gerrymandering, increasing numbers of Democrats, Republicans and voting rights groups are pushing states to bring more transparency and fairness to the secretive and highly political exercise of redistricting.
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“My concern with partisan gerrymanders isn’t about competitiveness,” said Ruth Greenwood, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. “It’s about a misalignment between voters and their legislators.”
In the upcoming Supreme Court Case, Gill v. Whitford, the court will decide whether Republicans in Wisconsin went too far in drawing political districts that favored GOP candidates. After leading Wisconsin’s redistricting efforts in 2011, Republicans won 60 percent of state Assembly seats in 2012 after garnering just 49 percent of statewide votes.
The issue of partisan gerrymandering has been around for decades and both parties have willingly indulged.
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But the Campaign Legal Center reported this week that court-ordered GOP House and Senate proposals to redraw several gerrymandered districts were highly problematic.