Opinion: State Lawmakers Must Act to Save Democracy From GOP Attacks
By Andrew Hong and Aidan Smith
The January 6 commission hearings cement what even the most casual observer has known for years: The state of American democracy is in absolute crisis, and it’s only going to get worse without immediate intervention. While our institutions were strong enough to prevent Donald Trump from stealing the 2020 election, America’s remaining democratic safeguards continue to crumble, especially at the state level.
With Congress having failed to safeguard American voting rights in the 117th Congress, anti-democratic forces across the country have continued to push forward their radical right-wing agenda…States must also fight against partisan gerrymandering. In the United States, it is a national disgrace that elected leaders are able to effectively “pick their voters” through favorably gerrymandering schemes. In recent years, instances of gerrymandering in the U.S. have soared nationwide. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, both parties resorted to intensely gerrymandering states where they controlled redistricting in order to stave off gerrymander losses elsewhere.
Partisan gerrymandering often leads to fewer “majority-minority” districts, which occurred in the 2020 redistricting cycle despite the country becoming more diverse. Gerrymandering also creates fewer competitive “swing” districts, creating more elections where the outcome is predetermined by the ruling party. All of these symptoms of gerrymandering erode voter choice, voting rights for people of color, and our democracy at-large.
While state courts have…
