The fatal flaw of redistricting is that the people in charge of it are the very same people who are dependent upon it for their jobs — which leaves the practice susceptible to gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering means “to divide or arrange (a territorial unit) into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage,” as defined by Merriam-Webster.
Last year was our once-a-decade census, and now district lines will be redrawn based on the results. Congressional districts for both state and national government may change based on shifts in population and demographics. However, the people redrawing the lines defining those districts need the people who voted them into office to continue to make up a majority of said district. Hence why gerrymandering most often happens during redistricting, which happens after the census.
As much as we’d like to hope politicians are altruists, experience show us otherwise. Given that 2020’s massive voter turnout was met with a surge of voter suppression bills across the nation (over 100, according to the Brennan Center for Justice), gerrymandering may be even worse this time.
But a Constitutional amendment, sponsored by Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer and cosponsored by Delegates Evan Hansen and Dave Pethtel, might just free West Virginia from the scourge of gerrymandering forever. House Joint Resolution 5 (HJR 5) would be the West Virginia Constitution’s first amendment and would “allow citizens to participate directly in the formation of congressional and legislative districts by creating a nonpartisan citizen commission … .”
No longer would redistricting lie solely in the hands of people who benefit from it most.
Instead, nine ordinary people would be appointed to the State Apportionment Commission: “The President of the State Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates shall each select two members. Members of each house belonging to a party or parties different from that of the President or the Speaker shall designate two members of the commission.” The eight members pick a ninth to be the chair; if they can’t decide, the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court picks the ninth member. No one on the commission can be employed by the state or any governmental unit. The commission draws up its plan and holds five public hearings, one in each region of the state. Only after the general public has given feedback would the new map be presented to the Legislature.
The Apportionment Commission might be better referred to as “bipartisan” rather than “nonpartisan,” given it’s likely to end up four/four and one wild card, but the point remains the same: No one party has the power to redraw district lines in its own favor.
HJR 5 was introduced Feb. 11 and has seen no action since. We have the opportunity to put political power back in the hands of everyday people, instead of recirculating it among those already in office, and make gerrymandering a relic of West Virginia’s past.
