It was revealed this weekend that Republicans introduced a bill to require “citizenship” as a category on the U.S. Census because “it would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerry-mandered maps to cement the Party’s power” (New York Times, May 31, 2019). The documents of the deceased Republican operative Thomas Hofeller revealed the ultimate goal of the proposed revision to the U.S. Census.

Although the sitting President of the United States judges investigations against his character to be “treason,” it is more accurate to define actions that interfere with the Constitutional right to vote definitively as “treason.” They undermine the essence of democracy, i.e. that the governing officials are elected by a majority of the voters.

The gerrymandering of electoral districts deliberately re-draws their boundaries, so that a contested district will fall to the ruling party. I might live in a district that tends to vote 50-50 in national elections, but if the boundaries of my district are re-drawn to carve out a partisan area and move it into the neighboring district, then my district becomes more likely to vote for the ruling party by a sleight of hand.

I could argue that the shift in power gave “aid and comfort” to the enemy, because foreign powers, namely Russia, take comfort in certain parties holding power in the United States. That’s a stretch. I’ll call that the radical argument.

But what of plots that change the representation of voters, so that their district suddenly represents a political party that it had historically voted against? That is the motive and strategy of gerrymandering, to change my vote so it becomes a minority vote, a silenced voice in the election. Is this not an attack on the essence of democracy? Call it treason?

Because gerrymandering has been sanctioned for generations, as a strategy of “to the winner goes the spoils,” many legislators consider it no more than political savvy. We know Democrats do it as well as Republicans, because there are court cases against the shenanigans of the Maryland legislature, as well as North Carolina and Wisconsin. But a recent case ruled against the Republicans of Michigan, and there have been three cases initiated by Democrats against one initiated by Republicans.

The word “gerry-mander” comes from the humorous comparison of district boundaries to the shape of a salamander. The voters of Missouri and Michigan voted to create non-partisan districting commissions in the 2018 elections, using computer models to create district boundaries that look more geometric than amphibian-shaped.  But gerrymandering is not as amusing as its name. It is tampering with the voting process, and therefore strikes at the heart of democracy. By removing opposition votes from one district into another, the process changes the outcome of the election by a diabolical manuever.

If the the plaintiffs succeed in the three outstanding gerrymandering cases, the fundamental injustice of the practice may finally stand out in bold relief. Gerry-mandering is not a political game, it is the undermining of democracy, tampering with the right of my vote to stand with the majority in my district. None dare call it treason, but it certainly shifts our political tides in directions favored by countries that do not wish us well.