OPINION:
“Virginia’s new congressional map would be country’s most extreme gerrymander” (Web, March 12) does an outstanding job of discussing the insane gerrymandering going on across the U.S. at the hands of both political parties.
Of particular note is the pending referendum amending the Virginia Constitution. If approved, it would cause the state to go from being one of the fairest to one of the least fair states in the country.
Both Republicans and Democrats engage in gerrymandering. Yet each side complains when the other does it. Seldom does anyone proffer a solution to the problem because neither party really wants one.
Here is a solution: The Supreme Court should mandate that boundaries be drawn purely on population, without race or party affiliation considered. This is what Virginia currently has.
The technology to create apolitical district boundaries is decades-old. An algorithm creates “optimally compact” equal-population congressional districts in each state, based on U.S. census data. It draws districts that respect the boundaries of census blocks, which are the smallest geographic units used by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Doing this makes the district boundaries reflect actual neighborhoods. Unlike in gerrymandering, factors such as race, party affiliation, income levels, religion and ethnic background are not considered. The only times a district might be elongated like a snake would be because of the topography of the land, such as a river, peninsula or mountain range.
The voters would have final approval of the boundaries in a referendum. In the alternative, a nonpartisan commission, such as what Virginia currently uses, would do so.
The result would be that neither political party is entirely happy, but voters would be happier.
Cmdr. WAYNE L. JOHNSON
Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Navy (retired)
Alexandria, Virginia
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