Leading Off
Campaign Action● Maryland: Democrats recently rejected Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s redistricting reform plan, but they used their state Senate majority to approve an alternative version that would essentially apply the ideas behind the National Popular Vote Compact to redistricting (see our Connecticut item below). Maryland is one of the few states that’s home to a Democratic-drawn gerrymander, but as we’ve previously detailed, that crazy-looking map shown above is surprisingly not that extreme of a partisan gerrymander compared to many Republican-drawn maps.
Maryland Democrats recognize that unilaterally passing reform without Republicans joining in will only make the existing national bias toward Republicans even worse. Consequently, the Democratic-supported bill would only create a redistricting commission if five other East Coast states do so, too. Those include New Jersey and New York, which already have redistricting commissions (though both commissions in New York and New Jersey allow officeholders to play a role and have serious flaws). Importantly, it also includes North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, whose maps were all Republican-drawn at the congressional level after 2010.
If Democrats can hold together in the state House, they could pass this bill over any potential Hogan veto. While Republican legislators in those nearby states are unlikely to agree to an interstate reform compact, this proposal is still far fairer at the national level than a piecemeal reform in just Maryland alone.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2oKcNr5
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