Absolute power, district by district

This week, our friends at Issue One released a new report on gerrymandering across the US, highlighting 12 states where legislators have attempted to reduce the number of competitive districts in the state. Gerrymandering isn’t just a Republican issue or a Democrat issue; both parties are guilty of attempting to reduce the power of the voter by rigging the legislative maps. 

Whether it’s Alabama’s map that violates the Voting Rights Act, or New York’s map, where legislators ignored a law to draw fair maps, the voting rights of Americans are under attack, from the very politicians who claim to represent them. Check out Issue One’s report, and see if your state is on their list. 

Rethink your donations

As the 2022 midterms heat up, your inboxes, airwaves, and mailboxes will certainly become flooded with asks from politicians asking you to donate to their campaigns, assuring you that the fate of the country rests in your ability to give them $5. As this deep dive profile from The New Republic shows, however, that isn’t the case. More often than not, these campaigns are making money for the sake of making money — and the dollars raised has very little impact on the outcome. 

Because of things like partisan gerrymandering and the general polarization of the electorate, often times, races are determined by the partisan makeup of the district, rather than advertising or fundraising numbers. Instead of feeding a broken political industry, you as the voter have the opportunity to change it, donating to reforms that can improve the system rather than the forces that drive it.

Utahns have something to say

Good news: a bipartisan op-ed from Utahns who are standing up for their vote at home system. As the Republican-led Utah state legislature debates making massive changes to the state’s successful and secure vote at home system, Republican LaVarr Webb and Frank Pignanelli write in the Deseret News why destruction of one of the state’s “crown jewels” is not a good idea. 

Importantly, Utahns like their political system. The attacks on the system are unfounded, and do more damage to the state’s voters than good. Read their full piece here.