Editorial: Gerrymanderlock, and its Solution
MILWAUKEE, WI (The MPJ) — I, much like you, have noticed nothing getting done in Congress. The media has dismissed this condition as “partisan gridlock,” but I know better. It’s not simple disagreements between members of the two parties in Congress. It’s a complete lack of incentive to come together and get things done. It’s a condition I call “gerrymanderlock.”
What do I mean? Well, let me explain to you what the men and women “serving” in Congress already know.
As of this writing (12/20/2011), the job approval of the United States Congress is hovering at an average of 11.3 percent. By that number, you would expect every last single member of Congress to get the boot in the 2012 general elections, and party control of both houses to flip (House from Republican to Democratic, Senate from Democratic to Republican). But they’re not. More than 90 percent of these people will keep their jobs.
How can 90 percent of Congress get reelected when only 11 percent approve of the job they’re doing?
Because that’s not an accurate portrayal of how Representatives and Senators get elected.
Though Congress as a whole is, to be blunt, despised, individual congressmen and women are viewed significantly more favorably. The last poll to examine the entire legislature and individual legislators separately, from Politico/George Washington University/Battleground was conducted from November 6-9, 2011. In it, Congress scored a 12 percent approval rating, and an 83 percent active disapproval rating (leaving only 5 percent of respondents in that poll to make up their minds, which should be a scary prospect for congressmen!).
However, 46 percent of those same respondents approved of the work of their own, individual Congressmen. 25 percent of those strongly approve of their Congressmen, and a further 15 percent are unsure. That’s a completely different result. And it’s evidence of clear, statistical distortion.
It’s not distortion on the part of the statisticians or poll takers. It’s a distortion caused by the way we elect our legislators. You see, in most of the country, including most of the Midwest, voters don’t choose their legislators, legislators choose their voters.
The reason 46 percent of “likely voters” approve of their own representatives is they were drawn into a district intentionally to favor one party or the other.
On the Republican side, Michigan’s GOP-controlled legislature turned a state of 7 GOP-leaning districts, 6 Democratic-leaning districts and 2 “even” districts to one having 9 GOP, 5 Democratic, and 0 “even” by Cook Partisan Voting Index numbers. Furthermore, three of those Democratic districts, in the Detroit metro area are D+1 (down from a minimum of D+12 in those districts: MI-12, 13, 14). Michigan lost one district.
Illinois is just as bad. Illinois’ Democratically controlled capitol in Springfield took their US congressional delegation from 8 GOP-leaning seats to 5, 10 Democratic-leaning districts to 13, and 1 “even” district to none (Illinois also lost a district due to decennial reapportionment).
Ultimately, the result of all this gerrymandering is a lack of necessity to work across party lines to develop results, and an increased incentive to posture along partisan lines in order to make their party-selected voters back home happy. Our congress doesn’t have to worry about the body’s abysmal approval rating so long as the base voters at home are happy, since they’re the only ones that matter.
And so long as districts remain safe, there’s no incentive to get work done. And here’s how safe the nation’s districts are: Since 2001, 78% of all congressional districts never changed party hands ONCE. Not even in the 2008 Democratic wave, or the 2010 Republican wave.
There are groups out there already aiming to end gerrymandering. Two of them run by NYU’s respected Brennan Center for Justice, which include EndGerrymandering.org and DrawTheLineMidwest.org. However, Brennan’s approach, a state-by-state attack won’t cut it. There needs to be a national endeavor to immediately end gerrymandering in all states at the same time.
There’s a problem with the national approach…it’s technically unconstitutional. The right to apportion districts and choose legislators is a power strictly given to the states, and not to Washington.
But there’s also a solution. Congress’ power of the purse.
In 1993, the federal “Motor Voter” law required states to provide easier access to voter registration by using uniform registration forms available at state DMVs/BMVs. How did they do this, despite the federal government technically not having the authority? By making federal election funding to the states contingent on adherence to this.
The same can work here. Congress can simply put a condition on all or some federal funding to the states (whether it be highway, election, Medicaid, etc.) on states no longer using districts at ANY level (congressional, state legislative, local/municipal, wards) that are drawn by partisan committees. This would not only help Congress, but would also have a positive impact on the gerrymanderlock that is becoming an increasing problem in state legislatures as well.
Another tactic available to Congress is to refuse to recognize members elected from states that allow gerrymandering. Yes, the states have a final say as to who they elect, but the Congress has the final say as to who its members are. Furthermore, there’s nothing in the Constitution as to reasons “legally elected” members can be refused admittance.
Either way, gerrymandering needs to end, and it needs to end on a national scale. Then, and only then, can America get back to the work of repairing itself from decades of misguided leadership, and hyperpartisanship. And once this is done…THEN let’s talk public financing of elections. But only then.