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District division: making your vote count (SIFF)
Gerrymandering
Dir: Jeff Reichert
May 30, Harvard Exit, 6:45 pm
May 31, Harvard Exit, 11 am
One surefire way to guarantee a push for meaningful voting reform would be if every registered voter was sent a copy of this film. It’s about one of the dirtiest tricks in politics; how both of the major parties scheme to draw voting districts in ways that will favor them (called “gerrymandering,” after Massachusettes governor Elbridge Gerry) . The end result is that incumbents thus are well-placed to be safely re-elected because they’ve gamed the system so that they have no real challengers.
The raison d'être of this documentary is get voters riled up to the point where they’ll say “Enough!” And the filmmakers are kind enough to show you exactly how this can be accomplished, by following the Proposition 11 campaign in California in 2008, which passed (with the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) and gives the power to draw state’s legislative districts to an independent panel, not the politicians. This “bipartisan” documentary (both Democrats and Republicans are featured) explains the issue in a clear and concise fashion. Fun fact: though most people pronounce gerrymandering with a soft g, it should really be pronounced with a hard g (like “Gary,” not “Jerry”).
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