Home of the Gerrymander

Ever since the governorship of Elbridge Gerry in 1812, the shadow of that common political animal, the gerrymander, has hung over Massachusetts. Since the Federal Constitution leaves the designing of Congressional districts to the states, legislatures traditionally redistrict in the interests of the majority party. In Massachusetts, Republicans and Democrats have jockeyed for political advantage in redistricting since 1950, when the last Congressional reapportionment took place. Each party has attempted to gerrymander the other out of some of its Congressional seats, but neither has been able to pass a redistricting law, with the result that Massachusetts retains the same ungainly districts it had in 1941. It is time that the state put some method into the redistricting chaos.

One possible course would be for the legislature simply to pass a law establishing fair standards for redistricting. While an ordinary legislative act might be the fastest way to set up general principles, however, it could also be just as quickly repealed by a subsequent majority in the legislature. An amendment to the state constitution, such as that now before the legislature, is the best solution to the problem. Although a longer and more involved procedure is required for approval, a constitutional amendment would have a far better chance of assuming a permanent character.

The proposed amendment provides several sensible rules to govern redistricting laws. It seeks to make all Congressional districts compact in territory, a principle which the legislature has repeatedly violated. And each district would contain almost exactly the same number of inhabitants, a needed change from the present system, where districts vary by as much as 100,000 people. Perhaps most important, no city or town, except Boston, could be divided between districts; legislative majorities could no longer win two districts by skillful splitting of enemy territory for every one lost.

Although the amendment is aimed at taking redistricting out of politics as far as possible, the issue is almost certain to arouse bitter partisan argument in the legislature. But obstruction for the sake of possible short-term political gains can hardly benefit either party. Massachusetts should welcome the opportunity to make the gerrymander extinct.