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Gerrymandering Becomes a Problem VOLUME TWENTY FOUR • NUMBER TWO WINTER 2020 THE SPECIAL ELECTION EDITION A LEGAL NEWSPAPER FOR KIDS Gerrymandering Becomes a Problem Battling Over for the States to Resolve How to Elect by Phyllis Raybin Emert a President by Michael Barbella Gerrymandering on a partisan basis is not new to politics. The term gerrymander dates back to the 1800s when it was used to mock The debate on how the President Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who manipulated congressional of the United States should be elected lines in the state until the map of one district looked like a salamander. is almost as old as the country itself. Redistricting, which is the redrawing of district maps, happens every Contrary to popular belief, voters 10 years after the U.S. Census takes place. Whatever political party is do not elect the president and vice in power at that time has the advantage since, in most states, they president directly; instead, they choose are in charge of drawing the maps. electors to form an Electoral College “Partisan gerrymandering refers to the practice of politicians where the official vote is cast. drawing voting districts for their own political advantage,” During the Constitutional Convention says Eugene D. Mazo, a professor at Rutgers Law School and of 1787, a an expert on election law and the voting process. few ways to Professor Mazo explains that politicians, with the use of advanced computer elect the chief technology, use methods of “packing” and “cracking” to move voters around to executive were different state districts, giving the edge to one political party. discussed. One CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 way was to let members of Congress select the president BUT NOT Should the Voting Age be Lowered and another REALLY Again? was direct by Maria Wood election by the people. In an opinion piece for The Since our nation’s founding, who has Washington Post, Joshua Spivak, a the right to vote has changed dramatically. senior fellow at Wagner College’s Hugh In the beginning, the franchise was limited L. Carey Institute for Government to white, land-owning males. Today, the Reform, wrote that according to James right can’t be denied to any citizen 18 years Madison’s notes, “there was very of age or older, regardless of gender or race. little support for a popular election It was the 26th Amendment to the of the president.” Madison preferred U.S. Constitution—the last amendment to that congressional members elect expand the franchise—that allowed 18-year-olds to vote. the president, but it was Alexander Previously, the voting age in the U.S. was 21. Hamilton who proposed a sort of Although the debate over lowering the voting age took center stage in the 1960s, compromise and the system we use during the Vietnam War, the push actually started much sooner, spurred by another today—the Electoral College. Hamilton, war. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a former World CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 How to Elect a President CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 according to Spivak, was worried about but under federal constitutional law, the popular vote winner in New Jersey corruption. “Having the [presidential] an elector cannot be a member of doesn’t get a majority, he or she will selection spread among the states Congress. still get all of New Jersey’s electoral rather than in the compact Congress votes. For instance, say a candidate would help ward off the dangers of How the election really happens wins 46 percent of the vote and ‘foreign powers’ gaining ‘an improper “Most Americans don’t understand the other party’s candidate wins 45 ascendant in our councils,’” Spivak how we elect a president,” says Eugene percent of the vote and then a third- writes. Mazo, a professor at Rutgers Law party candidate wins nine percent. The Electoral College does not have School and an expert in election law The candidate with 46 percent did a campus and is not the type of college and the voting process. “Basically what not receive a majority but did receive that you can obtain a degree from. It they [the framers] said was we’re going a plurality of the vote, so he or she is a body of electors that gathers every to elect these electors.” wins all of New Jersey’s 14 electoral four years to select our nation’s top Before the 1970s, the names votes. two heads of government—president of electors appeared on the ballot, Only two states—Maine and and vice president. Each political Professor Mazo explains, and you Nebraska—stray from the norm, party at the state level nominates voted for electors to cast their ballots splitting their ballots between the electors who are usually long-standing for whoever receives the popular vote statewide popular vote winner and the supporters within the party. There is in that state. Today, the presidential victor in each congressional district (two a slate of Republican electors and a candidates’ names appear on the in Maine, three in Nebraska). slate of electors for the Democrats in ticket, but voters are really choosing “If you looked at a map of Maine on every state. Each state has its own laws electors from that party to cast a election night [2016], it would not have governing that nomination process, ballot at a separate election where been red or blue, but purple because the winner is finalized. For instance, Maine assigned three votes to Hillary if the Republican candidate wins the Clinton and one vote to Donald Trump,” THE popular vote in New Jersey, then the Professor Mazo says. “Hillary Clinton slate of Republican electors goes to won the popular vote in the state and A LEGAL NEWSPAPER FOR KIDS a designated location in the state on then in one congressional district she the day that Congress sets (usually in got the most votes. But in the other This publication was made possible through funding December) and casts its electoral votes district Donald Trump got the most from the IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey. for the Republican candidate. votes, so that electoral vote went to Jodi L. Miller So, how many electors does each him.” EDITOR state have? Professor Mazo explains The U.S. Constitution does not EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD that under the U.S. Constitution each specifically stipulate that states need John J. Henschel, Esq. state has the same number of electors to have a winner-take-all or a split vote CHAIR as they have members in Congress. system for deciding who wins electoral Mary M. Ace, LCSW For example, New Jersey has 12 votes. That is left for each state to Kelly Ann Bird, Esq. congressmen and two senators, so it decide. Glenn A. Bergenfield, Esq. gets 14 electors or electoral votes. Risa M. Chalfin, Esq. Since each state’s electoral total Are the College’s days Ehsan F. Chowdhry, Esq. matches its congressional delegation numbered? Eli L. Eytan, Esq. sum, the Electoral College is comprised Since its adoption in 1787, the Felicia T. Farber, Esq. Electoral College has survived more Jeremy Farrell, Esq. of 538 members (the District of Norberto A. Garcia, Esq. Columbia is treated as a state under the than 750 attempts to either reform John F. Gillick, Esq. U.S. Constitution’s 23rd Amendment it or abolish it, according to the Hon. Lisa James-Beavers, ALJ and is granted three electors). A Congressional Research Service. One Stuart M. Lederman, Esq. majority of electoral votes—270—is proposal in 1808 would have limited Thomas J. Manzo, Esq. needed to win the presidency. a U.S. senator to one three-year term Margaret Leggett Tarver, Esq. Almost all states award their and called for the Senate to select the Kimberly A. Yonta, Esq. electoral votes in a winner-take- president from among the outgoing Thomas A. Zeringo all system where the popular vote senators. Other proposals, one in 1822 winner in each state gets all the state’s and another in 1860, called for the © 2020 New Jersey State Bar Foundation electoral votes. So, even if, for example, selection of the president from rotating How to Elect a President CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 but the Democrat won the nationwide joined include California, Colorado, popular vote. Under the NPVIC, instead Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, of awarding its electoral votes to the Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Republican, New Jersey would award New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode them to the Democrat. The agreement Island, Vermont and Washington. can only take effect, though, if states The power struggle between representing at least 270 electoral votes large and small states in presidential 270 participate. So far, 15 states (New elections could be problematic for Jersey was the second state to join) and the NPVIC movement, experts say. TO WIN the District of Columbia, representing Without the Compact, the only way 196 electoral votes, have joined the to achieve a national popular vote Compact, according to FairVote, system to elect the president would regional areas. In other words, in one an organization that advocates for be by constitutional amendment—a election cycle the president would electoral reform. particularly difficult and unpopular come from a northern state and then in Compact advocates argue the option. the next cycle from a southern state. All national popular vote system will force “The U.S. Constitution is extremely of those efforts failed. candidates to campaign everywhere difficult to change,” Professor Bell says What is gaining support among in the country, rather than in select pointing out that it requires a two- Americans is the concept of electing the “battleground” states.
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