HOW TO WIN AN ELECTION

By Robert P. Bomboy

Last May I wrote a column about dirty tricks and political gerrymandering. As far back as the early 1800's our political parties were corruptly contriving to twist and elongate the boundaries of voting districts, making them look like writhing salamanders. A governor named Elbridge GERRY did the dirty work, and a smart newspaperman tagged him for it, creating the word GERRYMANDER.

Pennsylvania is one of the nation's most gerrymandered states, and ranks very high up on the ladder of political corruption, higher even than our neighbors, New York and New Jersey. The 11th Congressional District is almost as twisted as the original salamander, weaving its way 170 miles from north to south, in, out, and around Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, and Wyoming counties. Look on the map and see if you could follow a trail of breadcrumbs through that much twisted territory.

Part of Lewisburg in the 23^rd Congressional District is connected to Towanda, in Bradford County, 75 miles away.

Following the 2010 national census, Republicans won control of many state legislatures, including Pennsylvania’s, and redrew and reshaped voting districts, gerrymandering them. If you decide to gerrymander you do it to create as many voting districts as possible with majorities for your party. That's why our Pennsylvania voting districts have such strange "salamander" shapes: they ramble from pillar to post, from hither to yon, from A to Z, to capture as many Republican voters as possible.

By 2012 and the next election, with the voting districts redrawn to favor the Republicans, they were in a position to run the table. In 2012, Pennsylvania Democrats won 51 percent of the popular vote for the House of Representatives. But, thanks to the redistricting, they won only five out of 18 House seats – fewer than one-third of the seats. The 13 Pennsylvania Republican winners made the House of Representatives even more conservative than it had been before.

Last week Judge Kevin Brobson of our Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg decided that the gerrymandering was legal, because, even though it did give the Republicans an advantage, it didn’t violate the state constitution.

The case in which he ruled was brought by Democrats and the League of Women Voters. His decision was a recommendation that the state Supreme Court can affirm or reject.

If the Supreme Court rejects Judge Brobson’s conclusion, it could order new maps drawn in time for the 2018 midterm elections. Because of President Trump’s very low ratings in opinion polls, Republicans are already worried about losing Congressional seats, even without new, non-partisan election-district borders.

Suzanne Almeida, executive director of the state League of Women Voters, said there was much in the judge’s finding that supported the lawsuit. “We are encouraged by the strong findings of fact in our favor and look forward to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ultimate decision in the case,’’ she pointed out.