We’re surprised and disappointed in Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto of House Bill 706, bipartisan legislation that would have created a politically balanced, independent electoral redistricting commission.
The bill aimed to stop the practice of gerrymandering, in which the party in power after the decennial census draws political boundaries to its own electoral advantage, essentially allowing politicians to pick their voters rather than voters choosing their political representatives.
The next census is in 2020 and New Hampshire’s political lines will be redrawn in 2021.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham and supported by state Sen. Jim Gray, R-Rochester, and Sen. Virginia Birdsell, R-Hampstead, would have created a 15-member commission: five Republicans, five Democrats and five unenrolled members chosen by the Democratic and Republican members. Any action would have required an affirmative vote of nine of 15 members.
Rep. Smith said she was “devastated” by the governor’s veto.
“There is no better example of improving our democracy than was demonstrated in this bill,” Smith said. “Both the House and Senate Election Law Committees passed this bill with unanimous bipartisan support and the full Senate passed it on a voice vote. Only the House Minority Leader and Governor Sununu worked to keep their party’s best interest above the best interest of Granite Staters. Today the Governor chose to ignore the bipartisan action of the legislature to deny voters the right to choose who they would like to vote for.”
Gov. Sununu justified his veto by noting the state constitution mandates that the Legislature draw the district lines.
“The drafters of our Constitution were wise to vest such authority in the people’s elected representatives who are accountable to the voters every two years,” Sununu wrote in his veto statement. “The members of the commission proposed by House Bill 706 would be unelected and unaccountable to the voters. Legislators should not abrogate their responsibility to the voters and delegate and authority to an unelected and unaccountable commission selected by political party bosses.”
This argument is undermined by the fact that the Legislature would need to approve the commission’s final maps, thereby retaining the ultimate responsibility for redistricting.
Both parties have been guilty of drawing district lines to their advantage when they are in power during redistricting.
In California, where Democrats control the Legislature, Ronald Reagan called gerrymandering, “a national scandal”, and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it had “completely broken our political system.” Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich noted: “We’ve been drawing lines for political reasons all the way back to 1812. But I think it’s wrong. I think it leads to bad government.”
With gerrymandering, the only thing that’s certain is that voters lose because their districts are not based on shared geographic boundaries, school districts or other common uniting elements but rather are broken into bits and pieces to pluck out likely voters from one party or the other solely for political advantage.
Rep. Ned Gordon, R-Bristol, according to the Associated Press, testified that he represents five towns that are part of four different school districts. One of the towns is big enough to warrant its own district, but is lumped in with others, he said. Another is connected to the rest only by a dirt road. And two of the towns are so far apart, “there is no community of interest between the two towns at all.”
In an NHPR article, Gordon said: “I’m a Republican. I’m probably the beneficiary of that redistricting. But the fact is, it’s just not right for the constituents.”
We had hoped this good government spirit would prevail and that Gov. Sununu would sign the bill. Unfortunately he did not and our state missed a great opportunity to be a leader in fair and representative democracy.
The Legislature can still override the governor’s veto and we urge them to do so when it takes its override votes in September.
Online: https://bit.ly/30b8Fn9
This editorial first appeared in Foster’s Daily Democrat Aug. 12.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.