Non-Partisan Group Flunks Democratic Legislature’s Proposed Gerrymandered Congressional Redistricting Maps

/ Freestate / By

Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project gives the legislature’s gerrymandered redistricting maps failing grades across the board.

Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project—a team of non-partisan academic and legal experts—gave the Legislature’s gerrymandered redistricting maps failing grades across the board: four map’ concepts,’ four Fs.

Commenting on their grade, Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project said “In Maryland, we have grades for the four congressional maps the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission released on Tuesday. Each map receives an F and significantly favors the Democrats. They each receive an F in partisan fairness, a C in competitiveness, and an F in geography.”[i]

Meanwhile, the people’s maps that Governor Larry Hogan will submit to the Legislature—developed through dozens of public meetings by an independent Citizens Commission—received straight A’s.

Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project[ii] provides a non-partisan analysis of partisan gerrymandering. Helen Brewer, a legal analyst for the project, described their work as a “non-partisan analysis of redistricting maps as they are being proposed and adopted across the country in all 50 states.” The Project reviews proposed congressional maps and state legislative maps. The analysis is non-partisan and the approach is data-driven, mathematically based.  It is intended to bring a clear picture to all the math, data and law that’s going on in the redistricting process.

Each of the Legislature’s draft Congressional maps earned F’s.

The Hogan appointed Citizens Redistricting Commission Congressional Plan in contrast earned an A.

  • https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-report-card?planId=recVPsqdcXQzIZzfT

Commenting on the process last week, Governor Hogan said: “We are not interested in drawing Republican districts or Democratic districts. I want what nearly all Marylanders want, which is fair maps and fair districts.”

[i] https://twitter.com/princetongerry/status/1458878795142754316

[ii] https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/