We often talk about “election integrity” as if it’s only threatened by illegal voting. But the truth is, gerrymandering — the deliberate manipulation of district boundaries to favor one party — is just as corrupt, dishonest and damaging to democracy.
When someone stuffs a ballot box, we call it a crime. When politicians redraw maps to predetermine outcomes, we call it politics. Both acts silence voters. Both manipulate results. The difference is that one happens in secret, and the other happens under the pretense of legality.
True democracy means fair representation — where every vote counts equally and every citizen’s voice matters. Gerrymandering violates that principle as surely as voter fraud does. It allows politicians to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their leaders. That’s moral theft, plain and simple.
If we are serious about restoring faith in democracy, we must hold both forms of election manipulation to the same ethical standard. Whether the tool is a stolen ballot or a stolen district line, the result is the same: a government that no longer answers to the people.
Suzanne Sanders
Layton