Robert and Rachel Millman: Voting, our most important civil right

As we get closer to Election Day 2020, we hear a lot about our political divide, the unbridgeable tribalism of left and right. At the same time, we’re also told that voters hold common-­ground views on a variety of issues. How can both be true?

The answer is gerrymandering, a funny name for a system that enables state political bosses to choose their voters and essentially ignore what the electorate wants.

The general view is that gerrymandering advantages one political party over the other. But that misses the larger point. True representative democracy is a competition among ideas that live or die at the ballot box.

There is no such competition if the outcome is already decided by rigged district maps. There are no fresh ideas if the first requirement is party loyalty. There’s no room for independent or third-­party candidates if maps are drawn so all seats are safe seats.

Another misconception is that gerrymandering affects only some races. But ballot access and the right to vote are controlled by state legislatures. That affects every election at every level.

Gerrymandered voting districts are the keystone of an interlocking structure for maintaining political power: The party that draws the maps makes the rules, appoints the committee chairs and enacts campaign finance laws, all in secrecy, eventually wearying voters to the point where they no longer see the value of participating.

But in this careful scheme something elemental, and in plain sight, was overlooked: your state constitution.

State constitutions are where you find the individual right to vote, along with your individual right to equal protection under the law.

This state-based argument is no longer an academic discussion. In the landmark 2018 case League of Women Voters Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that gerrymandered congressional districts “clearly, plainly and palpably violate the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

The result: The maps were redrawn for the 2018 election, and Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation went from a lopsided 13-5 Republican majority to a 9-9 delegation, reflecting the state’s evenly split electorate.

In its ruling, the court said, “… Do not divide any county, city incorporated town, borough, township or ward, except where necessary to ensure equality of population.”

This is based on a simple truth found in all 50 state constitutions: The people have an individual right to vote and a right to equal protection under the law. This is the basis of representative democracy and the opposite of what gerrymandering does.

The ruling infuriated Pennsylvania’s legislative majority, members of which have embarked on a plan to gerrymander judicial voting districts.

State legislators in Pennsylvania (and all other states) swear an oath to uphold the state constitution. It is our job to remind them of their duty.

Father-daughter team Robert and Rachel Millman created the independent film “Line in the Street,” a documentary about gerrymander reform in Pennsylvania.