Gerrymandering is an odd term derived from the mash-up of a politician’s name and the shape of a political district he contrived to create. Formally, it is defined as; Manipulating the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class. (Oxford Dictionary) What it is in layman’s terms; cheating.

This process has gone on for quite a while and one of the most egregious examples in Pennsylvania was the 7th Congressional District whose contorted boundaries formed a shape often referred to as Goofy Kicking Donald Duck. You can judge for yourself in the image below. Gerrymandering became so outrageous and unfair in Pennsylvania that in 2018 courts demanded a redraw of district boundaries based on objective criteria other than political affiliation.

The ethical contortions that political groups go through to gain an advantage is disheartening and has caused me to wonder why we voluntarily sort ourselves by political affiliation. Why is it that when you register to vote, you are requested to state an affiliation? Isn’t ‘citizen’ enough? The government maintenance of voter affiliation information aids and abets sorting by political tribes and provides the dataset that enables gerrymandering. We are all free to join groups of our choosing but government organizations don’t need those associations to guarantee our right to vote.

Our registration as voters should only include the affiliation ‘Citizen’.

Kevin Deeny