Reuters: Analysis: In U.S. battle over redistricting, competition is the biggest loser

Reuters: Analysis: In U.S. battle over redistricting, competition is the biggest loser

"When politicians draw lines that lock in the winners for the rest of the decade, it creates a disillusionment among voters that elections may not matter, because our voices won't be heard," said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for the good government group Common Cause. And without the political middle represented in Congress, "you end up with a dysfunctional body," she said.

Feb 9 (Reuters) – Republican and Democratic lawmakers across the United States are drawing political maps that will likely deepen polarization and encourage more extreme candidates by eliminating competitive congressional seats, a new Reuters analysis shows.

Thirty-one states have finalized new congressional maps as part of the once-a-decade redistricting mandated by law. Along with six states that each have only one district, 308 of the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives now have boundaries in place for November’s midterm elections.

In 2020, there were 62 districts in those states where the margin in the presidential election was within 10 percentage points, according to the analysis. Under the new maps, that figure drops by one-third to 41.

The erasure of competitive districts is damaging to democracy in multiple ways, electoral experts say. …

“When politicians draw lines that lock in the winners for the rest of the decade, it creates a disillusionment among voters that elections may not matter, because our voices won’t be heard,” said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for the good government group Common Cause.

And without the political middle represented in Congress, “you end up with a dysfunctional body,” she said.