New Ballot Measures to Stop Gerrymandering
We wholeheartedly agree with that catchy slogan, "Make Every Vote Count," on the blue sign held high in the photo for this article in Monday’s New York Times. It’s worthy of an exclamation point!
The story is worth a read as well—this November, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Utah are
expected to have measures on their ballots to curb gerrymandering of congressional districts. (A
similar measure was passed by Ohio voters in May.) From the Times’ article:
The movement to take politics out of setting legislative district boundaries seemed to suffer a
grievous, and perhaps even mortal, blow this spring when the Supreme Court passed up three
chances to declare partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional.
But it turns out that reports of its death are exaggerated. As federal courts dither over how to
resolve the issue, activists have begun tackling it state by state at the grass roots. …
… It is remarkable that five states are holding ballot measures on the issue in a single year; only
five had taken them up over the entire preceding decade.
Just as unusual is how little opposition the measures are meeting, at least so far. Making every vote for the House count is a popular idea! Here’s another: make every vote count for the presidency.