Marcia Hayward: Governor had no good reason to veto end of gerrymandering

To The Daily Sun,

The Thursday August 22 Boston Globe printed an article on gerrymandering. I was unaware that the N.H. legislators crafted a bipartisan compromise to end gerrymandering. The bill proposed an independent commission of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independents to draw the map lines. The maps would then need the approval of nine commissioners and all three groups before they could be approved. The entire process would be transparent. Wow! Good for them! Just the sort of bipartisan compromise most voters want to see in their elected officials. This is great news, yes?

This bill which apparently sailed through the election law committees in both chambers was VETOED by Governor Chris Sununu. It is my understanding that his rationale for the veto was that “gerrymandering was extremely rare” in New Hampshire. This rationale isn’t good enough for me.

New Hampshire was among those targeted by national Republicans in 2010. Tens of thousands of dollars were given to down-ballot legislative races by the Republican State Leadership Committee. This action assisted the GOP in winning back both chambers of the state Legislature as well as control over maps created in 2011.

N.H. Public Radio found that the state Senate maps gave Republicans 10 to 15 percent more seats than the GOP would have won on neutral maps. Republicans also gerrymandered the N.H. Executive Council, which controls most of the state spending. Even when Democratic state Senate candidates won more votes statewide in 2012, Republicans still held the chamber. It took a monumental effort in 2018 to overcome the gerrymandered maps and give Democrats a slight edge.

This bill was a serious attempt at producing fair election maps. I encourage anyone interested in democratic reform to:

a. Contact Governor Sununu and express displeasure with his partisan veto.

b. contact your local representative and express support for the fair-minded and courageous solution crafted by the N.H. Legislature.

Marcia Hayward

Laconia