After the start of this year’s mail-in voting, I noticed something strange. Many people I talked to during canvassing were voting against Prop 4, the independent redistricting (anti-gerrymandering) ballot initiative.
This was opposite to what I experienced while gathering 3,200 signatures for Prop 4: Those who knew what gerrymandering is were almost universally against it, and those who didn’t were almost universally against it when it was explained to them. So what’s going on?
I think some voters are confused about Prop 4. A yes vote for Prop 4 is a vote against gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is when politicians draw their own political boundaries to favor their own re-elections. It’s one reason we get stagnation, corruption, poor representation and supermajorities in government. It’s one reason we see, year after year, the same tired old faces and hear the same tired old tripe instead of fresh faces, new ideas and competitive elections.
Gerrymandering is a dirty political trick that ought to be illegal. Eventually it will be, but, until then, we don’t have to be stuck with it.
Let me say it again: A yes vote on Prop 4 is a vote against gerrymandering! Vote Yes on Prop 4.
Scott Bell, West Jordan
