Gerrymander Reform - All the tools in one place. Issue Brief, Progress Report, A Model For Success, Additional Readings, Organizations, and a Printout.
The pernicious effects of gerrymandering and closed party primaries and their stepchild, the endless partisan warfare in Washington, have spawned a populist backlash, a sharp and growing chorus of protests at the grass roots. Citizen activists are pressing for reforms to restore the primacy of voters, create a more level and open playing field, and to insure a fair outcome in American elections by throwing out the politically corrupt practice of partisan gerrymandering.
Over the last decade or more, half a dozen states have ejected political officeholders with their own self-interests from responsibility for drawing the maps for congressional districts. They have turned over that critical task to nonpartisan citizens commissions.
In half a dozen other states, public interest groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters have filed lawsuits challenging the legality and constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. And lately the courts have given encouragement to reformers by endorsing the interests of citizens exercising direct democracy against the political parties and partisan legislatures.