A better way to draw maps

By KATE COON

For the Ledger-Transcript

Valentine’s Day was the 102nd birthday of the League of Women Voters, which was founded Feb. 14, 1920, after the 19th Amendment was ratified and women won the right to vote. Today’s League fights for democracy reform and voting rights, and is committed to educating and informing voters.

It’s always appropriate to write about democracy reform and voting rights under the inspiring influence of Dublin native Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who was quoted in Suzanne Haldane’s recent letter to the editor (“Knowledge is the key to democracy,” Feb. 10): “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we do.”

We like to think Doris would have been proud of the powerful coalition of Fair Maps partners whose Map-a-Thon Citizen Mapping Project proved that fair voting maps are not some kind of fairy-tale unicorn. Map-a-Thon demonstrated that maps can be fair to the voters, nonpartisan and maintain shared communities of interest, like school districts and shared police and fire services.

“Redistricting should result in voting districts where elected officials represent the everyday concerns of their voters. … Our team of citizens, called the Map-a- Thon Project, is determined to demonstrate the best practices of redistricting to the voters and to the Legislature. … We demonstrated that nonpartisan redistricting could follow the rules, consider COIs (Communities of Interest), and be competitive – all factors that benefit both the voters and the political parties. Not only have we drawn our own maps, but we’re using what we’ve learned to evaluate the maps from the New Hampshire Legislature. What we found isn’t pretty.” (David Andrews commentary, New Hampshire Bulletin, Feb. 11.)

No it is not. Much attention in the media has been paid, appropriately so, to the battle over our congressional districts, CD 1 and CD 2. These rigged districts are definitely a test of the Granite State’s will to resist gerrymandering. But flying under the radar are the New Hampshire House and Senate maps. These maps will shape, for the next 10 years, who gets elected in our state House of Representatives (all 400 of them), our state Senate (24 seats) and our Executive Council (five seats). Your state Legislature will be taking up these bills, having heard extensive public testimony which was almost universal in its condemnation of the gerrymandered, uncompetitive maps.

Here’s what Andrews’ commentary has to say about HB 50: “The New Hampshire House maps in HB 50 contain numerous large floterial districts, one containing more than 30,000 residents, and diminishing our constitution’s goal of truly local representation. Compared to Map-a-Thon’s maps, the Legislature denied 16 more towns their dedicated House districts, in violation of the New Hampshire Constitution. In Merrimack County, Bow and Hooksett should have their own representative seats, yet they were forced to share with neighboring towns.”

Is your town one of the ones affected by these floterials? You might want to have a look. Warning – it’s wonky. (See opendemocracyaction. org/maps, Page 27.) In addition, it is the responsibility of the Legislature to define districts based on principles of equality rather than partisan advantage. Several aspects of the current pro- posed districts appear to be designed for partisan advantage.

The HB 50 House maps create, with amendments, 106 “competitive” seats. The Mapa- Thon map creates 132 competitive seats. Under HB 50, there are 122 “safe or leaning Democrat” seats, 10 more than Map-a-Thon’s 112. There are 172 “safe or leaning Republican” seats, 16 more than Map-a-Thon’s 156.

What we see in the HB 50 House maps is an erosion of competitive elections that should concern all of us – Democrats, Republicans and undeclared voters alike.

It gets worse. With Senate maps already “selectively drawn” (aka “gerrymandered) 10 years ago, the current proposal creates a huge partisan lean. In a state that votes roughly 50-50 Republican and Democrat, SB 240 proposes 24 districts that would lean 16 Republican to eight Democrat. That’s 2-1, not even close to 50-50. The majority is essentially drawing a map that bakes in a Republican supermajority. As Michael Strand asked in these pages (“Erosion on the Executive Council,” Jan. 6), “When did Republicans get so scared of free competition?”

Let’s prove the cynics wrong. The ones who say about gerrymandering, “Everybody does it, Democrats and Republicans,” leaving out of the equation the largest New Hampshire “party” – undeclared voters. There are alternatives to the gerrymandered maps if our leaders show the moral and political courage to choose them. The Map-a-Thon project shows it can be done. Our representatives should represent us – all of us – not their political parties. Fair, transparent and nonpartisan redistricting serves democracy and the State of New Hampshire, and should set the course until the next Census in 2030.

Speaking 19 years ago at the Kennedy School of Government, Doris Haddock said, “We must also look for ways to strengthen the ability of ordinary people to have a meaningful voice.” To a group of young activists in Tallahassee, Fla., she said, “Democracy is worth a great deal of trouble and all of our human strength.”

Let’s make Granny D proud.

Kate Coon is chairwoman of the PeterboroughPlus unit of the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire and vice chair of the Open Democracy board.

Our representatives should represent us – all of us – not their political parties. Fair, transparent and nonpartisan redistricting serves democracy and the State of New Hampshire, and should set the course until the next Census in 2030.