States Struggling to Overcome Political Manipulation of Gerrymandering

In New York state, the late Congresswoman Louise Slaughter once represented what wags called the Earmuff District.

It took in a round part of Buffalo, a similarly shaped one in Rochester 60 miles away, and joined them with a narrow strip drawn along the Lake Ontario shore.

Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s district in Georgia was called the Sherman District because, like General William Tecumseh Sherman, it marched from Atlanta to the sea.

In Louisiana, Cleo Fields represented the 4th District, called the Zorro District. Older folks may remember the television show “Zorro,” in which the masked hero left his trademark with his sword by slashing the letter Z.

The Zorro District looked like that.

In North Carolina, the I-85 District took in parts of numerous cities—Charlotte, Gastonia, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, and High Point—by joining them with stretches of I-85 and I-77. The district at points was no wider than the highways themselves.

These are some of the more notorious recent examples of gerrymandering, the practice by which those in charge of creating new Congressional and legislative maps draw the lines unfairly.

They may do it to suit their own parties, protect incumbents or otherwise pursue objectives at odds with the goal of grouping together people in compact geographical areas with interests in common.

The charge reliably comes up when maps, and representation in Congress, need to be adjusted following the U.S. Census. The process often winds up in court, as it did this cycle in states like New York and North Carolina.

Is there any way to remedy this? Can states develop fair processes that can’t be manipulated by politicians?

“It’s unlikely unless you change human nature and how humans relate to power, acquiring and holding on to it,” said Carl Calabrese, a retired Buffalo-area political consultant, professor, and elected official.

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