WHAT IS GERRYMANDERING?

What is Gerrymandering? Simply put it is American Voters being placed in a box every Ten Years by Politicians.

Many Americans are unaware of, nor concerned with, the process of political redistricting.

Congressional districts are based on evenly divided sections of the population allowing every American the opportunity of representation.

Every ten years redistricting is done at the State, not Federal level. The Party in charge uses the U.S. Census to determine redistricting.

Gerrymandering is a convoluted method of redistricting aimed at insuring votes for the Political Party in charge at the time of redistricting.

This process is one of the most damaging tools used against American Voters. While the crazy shaped Districts seem senseless at a glance, the process is very calculated for maximum voter control, insuring votes in upcoming elections.

How could this happen to American voters?
For decades American Voters trusted their elected officials and were asleep at the wheel. Now America is finally waking up.

The upcoming 2010 Elections are more than picking replacements for faulty incumbents. The 2010 Census is complete and the individuals we elect this Fall will determine redistricting starting January, 2011.

How long has this been going on?
Gerrymandering has been used for nearly 200 years. That's a long time for a society to be sleeping.

It started back in 1812. Elbridge Gerry, the Governor of Massachusetts, had signed a bill that redistricted the State in favor of the DEMOCRAT_REPUBLICAN PARTY. That's right! Our current two big parties were joined at the hip in the beginning. Their adversary was the Federalist Party.

The Boston Gazette exposed the new Bill and commissioned an artist to draw a map of the new district. The new district was shaped like a salamander. Hence the nickname Gerry-Mander. The Governors last name combined with the end of the salamander name.

What do we do now?
We must start by organizing and petitioning the individuals that we elect to put a stop to this outdated, unfair process. They tell us they are listening, while bombarding us with their Politi-speak everyday as the 2010 Elections approach. We must hold them to their promise to listen to and work for the people.

Voters Beware!
There are States that have Amendments dealing with Gerrymandering on the upcoming Nov 2, 2010 Elections. Read the proposals very carefully. Conditions are prime for more Government controls being slipped in unnoticed. Do your due diligence. Florida's Amendments 5 & 6 are a perfect example of Gerrymandering under cover of Fairness.

What should be on the Petition?
The problem with Redistricting is that you can't please everyone. Some think they will be rendered irrelevant, others think they are being cheated. The "who's on first" mentality can gridlock this issue if we let it.

The answer is simple. Eliminate Humans from the process. The purpose of redistricting is to count people and divide them into even unbiased groups. We can do this with computers There are a number of programs dealing with this issue. Investigate, understand and promote whichever process you believe to be fair.

We like the halving process. Take the 2010 Census numbers for the State and divide the State not geographically, Politically, ethnically etc., but by population.

Then you divide the two halves in half and so on until the State is evenly redistricted.

This is a very good example to look at provided by Range Voting's ( gerrymandering free ) Splitline method

Here's a comparison showing the current gerrymandered Florida and a computer based revision by Brian Olson found at bdistricting.com.

We must all work together to get our Great Nation back on track. Some of our work will be in little steps on a local level and some bigger important steps at the State and Federal level.

The opportunity to fix Gerrymandering comes only once every ten years.

We are in position to fix it now! Join with your fellow voters and elected officials to put and end to this unfair process.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

SBI!