“Opinion: Congress should make a deal to end partisan gerrymandering”

Ned Foley WaPo oped:

The country’s electoral and voting system is in dire need of fundamental change — most urgently, to deal with the pernicious practice of partisan gerrymandering. The filibuster might stand in the way of making this critical fix, but it doesn’t need to be an insurmountable roadblock.

Democrats and Republicans should be able to craft a deal that would secure the necessary 60 votes for Senate passage. Democrats could offer concessions to establish reasonable voter identification requirements and secure the safety of mail-in voting in exchange for Republican support for nonpartisan redistricting.

First, an explanation of why it is so important for Congress to tackle partisan gerrymandering….

And congressional action is imperative because it undermines democracy to draw district lines that produce more partisan victories than what the voters would choose to give the party if the map weren’t so distorted. As significant, this practice magnifies the preexisting problem of political polarization, making primary contests all-important and pushing candidates of both parties to extremes.

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