Common Cause Graded Maryland Redistricting on a Curve
Maryland got a "C" grade on its redistricting efforts, but no thanks to partisan Democratic hacks
Common Cause recently issued a grade of “C” to Maryland’s redistricting efforts, as reported by Bryan Sears:
Maryland received a C grade for its recent redistricting effort, according to a new report released by Common Cause that is critical of the Maryland General Assembly’s role in the process.
The report praises the efforts of a commission appointed by former Gov. Larry Hogan (R). The grade is dragged down by criticisms of a legislative effort the group found was highly partisan and lacked public transparency.
“It did receive a C as the grade in the report and the advocates really mentioned the challenges of the current structure, and really suggested the key recommendation being to move forward with some sort of independent redistricting commission in the state,” said Elana Langworthy, deputy policy director of State Voices, which is part of the Coalition Hub for Advancing Redistricting & Grassroots Engagement that helped grade the 50 states.
Emphasis mine.
Anybody who followed the redistricting process in Maryland knows exactly how this played out:
Governor Larry Hogan named a nonpartisan redistricting commission
The Nonpartisan Redistricting Commission produced the first fair and equitable maps in Maryland in decades;
Legislative Democrats proposed and passed heavily gerrymandered maps that discriminated against political and ethnic minorities;
The courts overturned the partisan Congressional maps passed by the Democrats.
There is a particularly accurate and damning quote from the Executive Director of Common Cause Maryland on page 43 of the report:
“During the General Assembly’s special session there was a floor debate in the Senate about the congressional map proposal. I had never seen a bill move so quickly. It went from a committee hearing and vote to third reader and passage on the floor within just a few hours. The map moved so quickly that no amendments were made in committee even with a significant amount of public input that day.
“While the map was on their reader in the Senate, I remember a Senator quoting our testimony in the midst of their floor debate. It caught me by surprise but was appropriate because it summed up the redistricting process so well. ‘People are disengaged because they know their feedback will receive very little consideration… Common Cause MD is taking no position because the outcome is preordained.’ Our testimony, while clearly in opposition, made the impact that we intended. As the Senator stated during his comment, the maps passed were drawn ‘independent of the people’s comments.’”
I said practically the same thing myself in my testimony to the 2011 Redistricting Commission:
Unfortunately, the presence of the general public at this hearing today is nothing more than a formality. There is no reason for the average citizen to believe that comments made here today will have any relevant impact to the machinations and decision-making of this Commission. The Governor has appointed to this Commission members who will uphold nothing more than the status quo, providing us with results similar to the shameful 2001 Redistricting Process. It is the Governor’s right, but that does not mean it is good policy or in the best interests of the people of this state.
Ultimately, Common Cause still graded Maryland’s redistricting process on a curve. The only reason Maryland received a “C” was because of Governor Hogan’s commitment to fair redistricting and because of the smackdown Democrats got in court at the federal level over Congressional redistricting. Without that, Maryland would have surely received the F grade our legally binding process deserves.
Maryland would be better positioned to combat our redistricting charade of course had Republicans not surrendered the 2022 election before it happened. But at the moment, there looks to be no end to the partisan Democratic redistricting organized by and for political hacks anytime soon.