Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for November 8, 2021: NH GOP Drops Gerrymandering Bomb on NH's Congressional Districtrs

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. After months of claiming there would be a fair, transparent process, the majority in the NH House Special Committee on redistricting dropped a gerrymandering bomb on the voting districts for US Congress. Earlier this year, a widely-reported comment by NH GOP chair Steve Stepanek predicted that because his party controlled redistricting, he could guarantee a Conservative in Congressional District 1, which has covered about one third of the eastern portion of the state and the larger cities. The proposal released last Wednesday night packs Democratic-leaning towns into District 2, including Keene, Concord and Plymouth, then wraps around to the Seacoast to include Rochester, Dover, Portsmouth & Durham. This makes the district uncompetitive, allowing Democrats to dominate while throwing the voting power of Republican voters in the district under the bus. District 1, was also made uncompetitive, by switching Republican-leaning towns at the Massachusetts border into CD1, giving Republicans an advantage despite the inclusion of Manchester & Nashua. So much so, that even the NH Union Leader wrote an editorial questioning its motives. Hearings on the Congressional and House map proposals from both the Democrats and Republicans will be held Tuesday, Nov. 9, 10 AM, and Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 5 PM, at the NH State House. More information at OpenDemocracyAction.org’s events page. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl.