By Leonard Witt
The Republican majority House Special Committee on Redistricting is backing a redistricted US Congressional map for New Hampshire that has one of the two districts curling around the state like a hunchbacked salamander chasing its own tail. If the committee votes to keep it, it will be gerrymandering at its worst.
Garry Rayno of InDepthNH.org reports the GOP’s plan “moves 75 communities and a quarter of the state’s population into different congressional districts” and their plans “pretty much ensure one district will elect the Republican, the other a Democrat.”
The GOP majority is channeling the late Thomas Hofeller, the nation’s most devious gerrymandering manipulator, who once said, “Redistricting is like an election in reverse! It’s a great event. Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters!”
Brian Beihl, deputy director of Open Democracy Action in New Hampshire, says, “What’s happening in New Hampshire is not an isolated instance. This is part of a well-choreographed effort to rig voting maps, to game the system nationwide.”
If the new rigged map becomes law, tens of thousands of Republicans, Democrats and undeclared voters will have the power of their votes diminished thanks to the GOP members who would rather pick you than you pick them. Having predetermined outcomes advances radicalism and polarization and marginalizes moderates no matter their party.
Ultimately, Gov. Chris Sununu is 100 percent responsible for this low point in New Hampshire politics, but if he keeps a promise maybe he can redeem himself, at least a little.
In 2019 and again in 2020, the state house and senate passed legislation that would have provided for a nonpartisan commission to draw fair redistricting maps with final approval by state lawmakers. Gov Sununu vetoed and killed the legislation both times.
NHPR reported the first bill that he vetoed “enjoyed bipartisan support, particularly in the state senate, where it passed unanimously.”
The AP reported that Gov. Sununu, justifying the second veto, “argued there is no need for the commission because gerrymandering is rare in the state and the current redistricting process was fair.”
Looking at the new completely gerrymandered Congressional district map forces one to question Sununu’s judgment and maybe his honesty. Liz Tentarelli, president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters NH, recently wrote:“The League of Women Voters never support or oppose any candidates or parties, but we do call out injustice when we see it, and the Congressional map under consideration is gerrymandered.”
However, the Sununu gerrymandering saga is not over yet. This summer he said during a TV interview if a gerrymandered congressional district lands on his desk, “Absolutely, absolutely I’d veto. If it doesn’t pass the smell test and it looks like gerrymandering districts, of course, I’m going to veto that.”
If he doesn’t veto it, and there are indications he will recant on his summer promise, then the next question will be: Does Sununu pass the smell test? If not, all those Republicans, Democrats and undeclared voters whose voting power on the national level has been diminished can have their revenge during next November’s gubernatorial election.
Leonard Witt is an at-large delegate for the Carroll County Democrats. These opinions are his alone.
