Gerrymandering has been a pernicious disease in our democracy. It has proven difficult to protect against, and has therefore become a preferred tool for those who seek to corrupt the democratic process for partisan advantage.
In a 2016 Wisconsin gerrymandering case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Kagan wrote that with the use of modern technology, “[…] Gerrymanders have thus become ever more extreme and durable, insulating officeholders against all but the most titanic shifts in the political tides. The 2010 redistricting cycle produced some of the worst partisan gerrymanders on record. The technology will only get better, so the 2020 cycle will only get worse.”
2010 saw N.H. redistricting make us the only state in the nation to use “floterial” districts, whose flexibility makes them a gerrymanderer’s dream. A constitutional scholar and lawyer, Mikayla Foster, wrote a legal note in 2018 for the BU Law Review that examines gerrymandering and N.H. floterial districts, and makes the extremely convincing case that “partisan gerrymandering is likely the real purpose for using floterials, instead of complying with the ‘one-person, one-vote’ principle.”
In N.H. House District Merrimack 26, a floterial, the choice is clear. Please join me in rejecting partisan sycophants like Howard Pearl and Chris Sununu, who opposed/vetoed the independent redistricting bill HB 706, denying the gerrymandering from which they have clearly benefited. Join me in voting for candidates like Lorrie Carey, who opposes gerrymandering and floterial districts, for the sake of fair elections and the integrity of our democracy.
MATT MURPHY
Canterbury