Bill to prohibit gerrymandering rejected as poll shows most Granite Staters find maps unfair

A proposal to prohibit gerrymandering failed to advance in a party-line vote last week on the Senate floor. The Democratic-backed proposal was voted to interim study during a session where concern over gerrymandering has taken center stage as the Legislature works on the once-in-a-decade task of redrawing voting districts.

Senate Bill 255 would have added a prohibition of gerrymandering to state law in an attempt to prevent the Legislature from redrawing voting districts to favor a particular political party. It would have instructed the Legislature to create compact districts and to consider communities of interest “to the extent practicable.” The Senate voted against advancing the bill, 13-10, last week.  

Recent polling from UNH shows that only a third of Granite Staters have seen the redistricting maps drafted by the Legislature this session. Of those who have seen the maps, only 10 percent consider them to be fair; 80 percent think they are unfair and 10 percent aren’t sure. The polling also looked at the breakdown of those beliefs by party line and found that nearly all Democrats (97 percent) and independents (91 percent) found the maps unfair, while Republicans were divided: 36 percent found them unfair, 31 percent think they are fair, and 33 percent are unsure.