Every 10 years, each state redraws its district lines to more accurately reflect changes in the new U.S. Census. By manipulating district lines into unnatural shapes, the New York Democrats have tipped the scales in their own favor more than the demographic changes of the census truly warrant.

This can be done in two major ways, the first by creating districts with a supermajority of opposing votes, thereby limiting the impact they can have due to being confined to just one district. The second way is by absorbing as many opposing votes as possible while maintaining a safe majority. Both strategies arbitrarily devalue the votes of the citizenry, and this is exactly what was just done here in New York.

New York is already a solidly blue state — Biden earned 61% of its vote in 2020 — but this new map likely subtracts four Republican Congressional seats from the paltry eight that existed previously. Voting tendencies do not typically swing that wildly in just a decade, but districting lines do.

At this point, blatantly gerrymandering is essentially an American tradition, but that doesn’t make it any more sightly. I interviewed several Syracuse University students and showed them the outline of New York’s new District 10, asking them how they’d describe it. One student, Bianca Weber, compared its shape to gum on the bottom of her shoe. Another respondent, Lucio Maffei, said it looked like a sports fan with an oversized foam hand. Personally, I think it looks most like a big stylized lighting bolt, or an S. Any way you slice it, it’s quite an irregular shape

In this same vein, a popular opinion has emerged claiming that District 10 has been “Jerrymandered,” a spin on the typical term to reflect Representative Jerry Nadler. When drawn in this contorted fashion it turns some of the deepest blue New York neighborhoods in the borough — including Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope — over to the traditionally conservative District 11, likely flipping it blue.

This has the added benefit of allowing District 10, which was already a Democrat stronghold, to snake the way it does in order to gobble up as many red-leaning neighborhoods, many of which are Orthodox Jewish communities. Given that this is a stronghold district, this practice does not risk Nadler’s seat. Instead, it just nullifies the votes. All of this was done with nothing but pen strokes.

The point is, this political redistricting is not reserved to the deep south as conventional wisdom might imply. It’s an omnipresent phenomenon, arbitrarily changing the weight of everybody’s votes based on the whims of entrenched and elitist politicians. The limits on gerrymandering that currently exist are racial, which is a good start, but evidently not nearly enough. Some level of political finagling is inevitable, as there will always be some amount of votes that won’t “count,” but this is not a mere trick. It’s an egregious abuse of power that threatens the integrity of our constitutional republic and has been an obvious flaw in our political tradition for centuries.

So why is it still alive? The answer, again, is selfish politics. Politicians want to be able to put their thumb on the scale when it’s convenient to help themselves. Do not be fooled when your favorite politician complains about gerrymandering; nine times out of 10 they won’t be willing to introduce any legislation over it because they themselves want to use that ring of power. All they’re condemning is their opposition’s use of it, not its use on principle.

So how do we end it? How do we balance the scales? Unfortunately, gerrymandering does fall under the current legitimate powers of state governments. But some states have set in place their own methods of keeping things more bipartisan. New York can be that way, too.

Advocate for change, call up your congressperson, talk to all your friends about the issue. These elitist politicians are ultimately motivated by votes, so threaten to withhold yours if your congressperson does not agree to support legislation ending this practice. It may seem small, or it may seem like one person cannot do anything, but that’s what politicians count on. That’s been the excuse that has prolonged issues. If you don’t do it, no one else will. Take some personal responsibility for your own political system and do your part to make it better.

John Parker is a freshman Writing and Rhetoric major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at 12johnparker12@gmail.com.

Published on March 1, 2022 at 12:39 am