To The Andover Beacon,

I ask your support for HB 1665 to establish an advisory independent redistricting commission.  As you know, the measure passed the New Hampshire House with a bipartisan vote just before the coronavirus crisis set in. It will be before the Senate when it is back in session, hopefully in the first week of May.

Please join me in writing our Senator, Harold French at PO Box 11, Warner NH 03278, and asking him to vote in favor of the bill. He voted for the HB 706 version for an independent redistricting commission, and, with a nudge from his constituents, he is likely to vote for HB 1665.

When I took American history in high school in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1953 and 1954, I learned about gerrymandering. So interesting! In 1812, as Wikipedia reminds me of specifics I had forgotten, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry created a new voting district around Boston. On a map, the shape of the new voting district resembled a salamander.   

The new district was meant to favor his party; the map (with claws, wings, and fangs added) was published in the Boston Weekly Messenger with the title “The Gerry-Mander.” It became the object of derision in text books and taught me the lesson that such manipulation was inappropriate for the Republic.

What is best for New Hampshire? A manipulated map, with the attendant shortcomings of  Governor Gerry’s creation?  Or a transparency and structure that should eliminate the current gerrymandering and curtail future manipulation by either party – voting district maps that can be the pride of New Hampshire, with fairness to both parties and all voters? 

Kent Hackmann