With gerrymandering ruling,the Supreme Court could have saved democracy. It didn't. (Whitmire/al.com
Updated Jul 10, 2019; Posted Jul 10, 2019
By Kyle Whitmire | kwhitmire@al.com
This is an opinion column.
Jefferson County had been slowly shifting toward the Democrats, and by the 2008 election, it finally passed the threshold. President Barack Obama prevailed there comfortably, and Republicans have struggled to win a countywide race there since. In the middle of red Alabama, there was a little dollop of solid blue.
And yet, the county’s delegation in the Alabama Legislature — crucial to passing local bills and controlling the county’s legislative agenda — remains in Republican control, not because of voters splitting their tickets, but because of how the district lines are drawn.
Some of those legislative districts look outright weird. For two of them, you about have to break out a magnifying glass to see where they touch Jefferson County at all.
Rep. Tim Wadsworth serves in that delegation, even though he lives an hour’s drive away from downtown Birmingham. His district is mostly in Walker and Winston Counties.
Rep. Kyle South is part of the delegation, too, even though he lives an hour and a half away in Fayette. His district stretches from Jefferson County all the way to the Mississippi line.
Both lawmakers’ districts put a toe across the Jefferson County line, and under Alabama’s legislative rules, that makes them members of the delegation — and gives Republicans a delegation majority in a Democratic county.
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more: https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/with-gerrymandering-ruling-the-supreme-court-could-have-saved-democracy-it-didnt.html
(This was published in our local paper 5 July; al.com didn't make it available online right away.)
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