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Gerrymandering bad for democracy

To the Journal editor:

To gerrymander is “to achieve (a result) by manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency.” Gerrymandering may or may not be legal depending on why it is done. Both parties have done it. (I believe) today’s Republican party has taken gerrymandering to extreme levels. They have done this to increase their political power. In my opinion, gerrymandering is bad for our democracy no matter who is doing it. States are using computer programs to gerrymander districts for political gain. Shouldn’t those computer programs draw fair districts so voters are picking their representatives rather than representatives picking their voters?

Voter suppression in the United States concerns allegations about various efforts, legal and illegal, used to prevent eligible voters from their right to vote. The current Republican party is targeting likely Democratic voters for suppression with new laws. Republicans are reducing the number of polling places in likely Democratic districts. Republicans are reducing polling days and hours. Republicans are getting rid of early voting.

Our population is growing. Our voting populace is growing. If you want more people to participate in the democracy, wouldn’t you do the opposite of what the Republicans are doing? Paul Weyrich, a prominent and influential conservative, is quoted as saying in 1980: “I don’t want everyone to vote … in fact our leverage goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Crosscheck purging is a system used to identify voters who are registered in more than one state or district. Being registered to vote in different districts is not illegal. In theory there is nothing wrong with crosscheck purging, but using it to target and purge voters who, again, are likely Democratic voters is wrong. And that is what Republicans are doing. They are, in essence, targeting likely Democratic voters using the flimsy excuse of “voter ID fraud.” Actual voter ID fraud is statistically irrelevant, it sounds good to their base but there is no there there.

Extreme Gerrymandering, Voter Suppression Laws and Crosscheck Purging are antithetical to the American way. If your party has to rely on these unAmerican activities to win, what does that say about your party? If YOU support these unAmerican activities what does it say about YOU?

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