Buddymandering-!
"Redistricting is like an election in reverse! It's a great event," Thomas Hofeller said at a National Conference of State Legislatures event in 2000. "Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters!"
Most of the public might not understand what this artwork means to you. So I am writing about it to explain more.
The artwork is found in the Reason magazine article, “Why Redistricting Reform Goes Off the Rails,” sub-titled “‘Buddymandering' is the widespread map-related misconduct that's wrecking our elections.” It was written by Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, for the July 2020 issue.
In his article, Olson wrote the opening sentence:
Are you against gerrymandering? Of course you are! You've laughed at the shapes of [legislative] districts with nicknames like the Praying Mantis, the Steam Shovel, and Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.
Praying Mantis?
It was Maryland’s Third Congressional District (2011 to 2021.) The Democratic-controlled legislative assembly drew the map.
Steam Shovel?
It was New York’s 20th State Senate District (2011 to 2021.) The Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment proposed the legislative maps.
Goofy Kicking Donald Duck?
It was Pennsyania’s Seventh Congressional District (2011 to 2021). Unlike the Maryland General Assembly, the Republican-controlled legislative assembly in Harrisburg, PA, drew the map.
Washington Post’s Wongblog
in 2014, the Wongblog created an interactive map of the country - “America’s most gerrymandered congressional districts.” Also, it tells you the following:
Democrats won in nine of the 10 most-gerrymandered districts. But eight out of 10 of those districts were drawn by Republicans.
Three of the 10 most gerrymandered districts were in North Carolina.
Indiana and Nevada stand out as states with the least amount of gerrymandering.
Maryland and North Carolina were essentially tied for the honor of the most gerrymandered state.
Republicans drew Congressional boundaries in six of the 10 most gerrymandered states.
Gerrymandering is easier to get away with in more densely populated areas.
This is what the 10 most gerrymandered districts look like.
Go ahead and click the map to see your congressional district.
Walter Olson wrote:
Everyone Wants Reform—But What Kind?
I call this kind of arrangement a "buddymander." Many people who hate partisan gerrymandering hate it too, but others are willing to let it slide or even are fine with it. The animating logic is: We'll protect our guys and you can protect yours. It's outwardly different from extreme partisan gerrymandering, since the main goal is not to take away seats from the opposition. But the two spring from the same underlying temptation: When the system gives insiders wide discretion over line drawing, they are apt to use it to advance their own interests.
Can you see any nicknamed district in the less gerrymandered state of Indiana?
Nope? Oddly, the Republican-controlled General Assembly drew these congressional districts.
Remember that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case of Moore v. Harper on June 27, 2023. The Court rejected the independent state legislature theory (ISL). This theory asserts state legislatures have sole authority to draw legislative district maps within their respective states without judicial review by state courts, without presentment to state governors, and without constraint by state constitutions.
In Indiana, the governor would make appointments to the courts based on the recommendations of the Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission. By the year 2011, Republican Governor Mitchell Daniels. Jr. (2006-2012) appointed all five judges to the Supreme Court.
Trifecta is a term to describe single-party government when one political party holds the governorship and majority in both chambers of the state legislature. As of March 31, 2024, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments where neither party controls trifecta. Check your state in the current state government trifecta status.
Olson concluded:
Either way, we'd finally be rid of those oddly shaped, colorfully nicknamed monsters whose habitat is our electoral maps—districts like the Duck, the Snake by the Lake, the Broken-Winged Pterodactyl. And we wouldn't miss them.
Separately, on January 17, 2017, Olson wrote his CATO commentary - Obama’s Farewell Address - and concluded:
What kind of ex‐presidency has Obama planned? We know it will involve promoting democracy and civic involvement and specifically a battle against gerrymandering and for redistricting reform. As one who has been involved in redistricting reform efforts in my own state of Maryland, a state where Democrats drew the lines, I see a lot of potential there, provided Obama can resist pressure to represent the institutional interests of the Democratic Party. From what I’ve seen, a majority of voters cutting across party lines would welcome a better way of drawing lines.
Three years later, on October 23, 2020, I wrote a commentary for The Fulcrum: “Deeds, not words, show Obama is not the reformer he's sounding like.”
My point?
I could say that it will continue the gerrymandering war for another decade!
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As a Hogan Republican, Walter Olson was appointed by former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to serve on the following commissions:
Co-chair of the Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission (2015)
Co-chair of Maryland's Emergency Commission on Sixth Congressional District Gerrymandering (2019)
Co-chair of Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission (2021)
As a devoted reader of Amerideaf’s Newsletter, Olson has a list of his writing (and a few podcasts) since early January 2022 by clicking “A General Thought (And a Personal Update) on Gerrymandering.”
Plus more commentaries:
His first book, “The Litigation Explosion: What Happened When America Unleashed the Lawsuit,” led The Washington Post to dub him an “intellectual guru of tort reform.
Olson is the founding blogger of “Overlawyered” (1999-2020). You type “Deaf” in its search box and will receive 59 hits. Then, you can read 286 blogs related to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"Maryland is the shamefaced owner of the single worst gerrymander in the nation," told Ashley Oleson, state director of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, to The Fulcrum on November 7, 2019