Opinion ID: 2169494
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Political Gerrymandering

Text: The presence of a political gerrymander is an important consideration in determining whether there has been a violation of the principle of compactness. Of course, creating a district for purely political concerns is impermissible. A political gerrymander is effected by a delineation of the boundaries of electoral districts in such a manner as to exclude therefrom, or to include therein, groups of voters whose political affinities may reasonably be surmised and whose political action is reasonably certain. Opinion to the Governor, 221 A.2d at 802. Usually, the delineation is without reference to the physical features of the area. Id. The districts are also drawn without a rational relationship to relevant concerns such as the existence of historical, natural, and political boundary lines. Id. In Licht and Farnum, the courts found political gerrymandering and thus found the respective redistricting plans unconstitutional. Other factors are relevant when analyzing the constitutional requirement for compactness. It would appear that a district could still be found unconstitutional even if there is no evidence of political gerrymandering. That is, the principle as enunciated by our courts reveals the need for effective representation in a given district. Quite simply, if a district is drawn for political considerations, the citizens within that district are not being effectively represented and the district is invalid. However, effective representation concerns may arise when districts are drawn despite the lack of political favor or disfavor in drawing the districts, as for example, if no consideration for contiguity or other related boundary concerns is given. Nevertheless, in this case, the record evidence reveals the lack of any compelling evidence to satisfy any claim for political gerrymandering. The only person that enunciated such a claim, Representative Enos, did not seek re-election in the senate district in which he claims gerrymandering occurred. Whether political gerrymandering refers to the effect felt by voters in the district or the person seeking election is immaterial in this case as no evidence has been introduced to make such a claim. The only evidence presented revealed that then-Senator Enos, after the current senate leadership came to power, did not maintain the positions within the senate leadership or on other senate committees as he had during the prior senate leadership. Senator Parella noted that she believed the women in the Senate each had more difficult districts after redistricting. Neither the opinion of Senator Parella nor Representative Enos was substantiated by any other testimony. Representative Enos may have won the election if he had run for the senate seat in District 12. He may have well been correct in believing that he would not have won an election against Senator Gibbs. There is no evidence, however, that the district was drawn with the intent to punish him or reward another. Indeed, there is no evidence in the record to suggest that any of the districts, when drawn, were drawn with an intent to favor or disfavor a person or group based solely upon political considerations. Accordingly, this Court holds that the plaintiffs have not established a sufficient proof of claim for political gerrymander.