When you have to cheat to win

The legislation aligned with a national movement to eliminate gerrymandering—the practice of drawing congressional districts to favor one party over another. (Historical context: “gerrymandering” gets its name from Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who in 1812 carved up a district in Massachusetts into the shape of a salamander in order to tip the scales for his party. It was a cumbersome process back then, but now computers analyze voting patterns and can re-draw maps with mathematical precision to favor one party over another.)

Clean Missouri called for a non-partisan state demographer to configure districts based on logical geographic boundaries and equal populations, regardless of political persuasion. The districts would then be reviewed and approved by a panel of non-partisan judges.

But in an ominous preview of today’s gerrymandering mess, in 2020 Rep. Dan Hegeman (R), pushed through an amendment that watered down Clean Missouri provisions. It did away with the non-partisan demographer, to be replaced by a commission appointed by the governor. The amendment passed by just 51 percent of the vote.

The Brennan Center for Justice said Missourians were “tricked”into believing they were voting to strengthen Clean Missouri when they went to the polls in 2020. Instead, those opposed to fair elections used deceptive means to gut Clean Missouri.

Now Missouri Republicans want to re-draw congressional districts to suit Donald Trump, who has already declared that Missouri is “in” in the redistricting debacle.

According to the Missouri constitution and case law, redistricting is tied to the U.S. Census*, which last occurred in 2020. Re-drawing districts using five-year-old data to give one party an advantage goes against democracy and fair elections.

Never mind that, Republicans say, we want more congressional seats than we have now: seven seats out of eight instead of six, in order to please a president who refuses to accept limits on executive power.

If you have to cheat to win, is that truly a victory for you? That's not what we teach our children, and they are watching our actions right now.

* Mo. Const. art. III, §§ 3(g), 7(f), 45; Preisler v. Doherty, 284 S.W.2d 427, 436-37 (Mo. 1955)