Editorial: Time to Iowa-fy America
MILWAUKEE, WI (The MPJ) — In case you haven’t noticed by now, the US Supreme Court, on Friday, struck down a legislative map in the State of Texas drawn by judges aiming to allow for greater minority representation in both the Austin Statehouse and in Texas’ delegation to Washington. The reason? The federal court that drew the maps completely disregarded the maps drawn by GOP legislators in Austin (that are heavily gerrymandered in favor of Republicans) instead of using that legislative map as a starting point to then modify.
Bull.
When the legislators drew a map that is in such clear violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, there’s no real point to using that map as the starting point to then modify and correct. As anyone who’s lived in an old house, or has ever been to Vegas knows, sometimes it’s more effective to just knock down the entire, existing structure and start from scratch.
But the question now is…what does this have to do with the Midwest? Everything.
In the Midwest, we have both examples of the exact same problem that Texas voters face, and we have the solution to that very problem.
Of the nine states The Midwest Politics Journal covers, eight of them have politicians drawing their own boundaries. The lone exception…Iowa.
The Hawkeye State has a brilliant solution to fighting gerrymandering, stop letting the politicians draw the lines. Instead, Iowa’s districts, both for US Congress and for the General Assembly in Des Moines are drawn by a nonpartisan agency, known as the Legislative Services Agency (LSA). Keep in mind, this is different from Ohio’s commission, which is comprised of politicians with a seemingly bipartisan composure (Governor, Auditor, Secretary of State, Republican designee, Democratic designee).
By Iowa law, the LSA is required to disregard incumbent addresses, voter political leanings, previous election results, and other demographic info beyond simple population counts. The LSA is also required to keep districts compact, and keep cities and counties within a single district (when possible). As a result, Iowa’s LSA uses a computer program in order to draw a map within these criteria.
Why doesn’t everyone else?
Granted, we know the answer to that question already. Letting the legislature draw the maps allows them to protect their own. Democrats in Illinois did this. Republicans in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Kentucky (just today) did it. So let’s stop this. Nationwide. Now. Nationwide. And it’s doable.
Congress can write a law eliminating some or all federal funds to states that don’t draw their districts just like Iowa does. That would eliminate Constitutional issues with the move (states can voluntarily opt in or out, while providing a serious disincentive to opt-out, just like with the 21-year-old drinking age issue), and put an end to Coddled Congressmen almost everywhere.
It won’t eliminate districts that are legitimately safe. The Chicagoland area is heavily Democratic no matter how you draw the lines. The suburbs of Milwaukee are heavily Republican no matter how you draw the lines. But those kinds of districts are the minority.
Simply put, redistricting should no longer be a political power play, and return to its intended function: A simple, logistical adjustment made by simple mathematics, making sure everyone is equally represented and their voices are legitimately heard.
When we stray from that simple principle we get…well…we get exactly what we have now. A Congress, and series of state legislatures, that have abysmal approval ratings yet won’t correct themselves because the voters have been denied the very mechanism they need to correct it.
Stop gerrymandering now, and save America now.