Gerrymander!

By Congressman Gary Peters
Monday, June 20, 2011

On Friday, the Republican legislature in Lansing introduced the most undemocratic Congressional map in Michigan’s history.

Every ten years, the borders of Congressional districts are redrawn to account for changes in population. The goal is to ensure that every voter in the country has equal representation - but that’s the exact opposite of what the Michigan legislature has done.

Instead of guaranteeing that voters can choose their Representatives, this map allows the politicians and political parties to choose their voters.

Sign The Petition - Tell Govenor Snyder to Veto the Map

Michigan law requires Congressional districts to follow community lines and to be as compact as possible. This law makes sense. People who live in a community have common needs and face similar challenges, and it’s a good idea for them to have the same Representative in Congress.

The new Republican map violates every one of those principles. This map puts Farmington City in one district and Farmington Hills in another. They put Bloomfield Hills in one district, and Bloomfield Township in another. They found a way to split up Clawson into two separate districts, while somehow putting Pontiac, Farmington Hills, Grosse Pointe and the Detroit Waterfront in one district that snakes back and forth for nearly fifty miles.

And for the first time, Oakland County would no longer have one Representative for the majority of the county; even though we gained population in the census, we would lose representation.

The Republican legislature in Lansing has made it clear that they don’t care about following Michigan’s precedent of fairness in elections; their only concern is exploiting every trick in the book to gain a partisan edge, even if it means splitting up communities and denying voters fair representation.

That’s just plain wrong - and it runs counter to every principle of democracy that has made our country great.

On Friday, I teamed up with my friend and colleague, Representative Sandy Levin, and we released a joint statement calling on Governor Snyder to “reject this gerrymandered map and draw congressional boundaries in a way that puts Michigan voters’ interests squarely ahead of flagrant partisan advantage.”

Now, we need your help to make sure Governor Snyder and legislature get the message. Sign the petition today to tell Governor Snyder to veto this undemocratic map if it gets to his desk. Send a message that elections should matter, and that the Michigan legislature should go back to the drawing board and create a map that puts the voters first.

Sincerely,
Gary Peters