Democracy Wire

Common Cause Maryland hosted a birthday party Thursday for Elbridge Gerry, widely credited as the first politician to perfect the dark art of manipulating legislative lines for partisan purposes. Gerry, a former Vice President and Massachusetts governor, signed into law oddly shaped districts meant to solidify his party’s majority in the legislature while he was governor. The Boston Gazette drew a political cartoon in 1812 comparing one of the districts to a salamander and naming the district a “gerrymander.”

An Alabama attorney general's opinion highlights the continuing need for the Voting Rights Act

A Florida circuit court yesterday ruled that the state’s congressional lines violated state constitutional requirements that redistricting be done in a nonpartisan manner. Common Cause was a plaintiff to the lawsuit along with League of Women Voters of Florida, National Council of La Raza, and several Florida voters.

Hawaii is making strides toward greater participation in their elections. In an effort to combat the state’s current low voter turnout and expand access to the ballot box, Governor Neil Abercrombie has signed a bill allowing voters to register at absentee polling places beginning in 2016, paving the way for Election Day registration to begin in 2018.