Single-Member
Districts: Why I Support Them
At a recent
Board of Public Works meeting, Comptroller Peter Franchot endorsed the
idea of single-member districts (SMDs) and computer-generated redistricting. I
support these ideas, too. According to the
University of Vermont, multi-member districts (MMDs) have a greater chance of
re-electing the incumbents. Only
10 states in the country currently use multi-member districts, with 2 (Vermont and West
Virginia) recently pursuing changes to single-member districts. Only Maryland,
West Virginia, & New Hampshire allow as many as 3 representatives per
district.
By
states' own volition as well as court decisions, MMDs' usage began
to decline from nearly half of legislative seats at the turn of the 1960s to 26%
of representatives and 7.5% of senators in 1984. In
the 1980s, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, South Carolina, and Virginia completely
eliminated the use of MMDs and in the 1990s, Alaska, Georgia, and Indiana
followed suit; Arkansas, North Carolina and Wyoming continued to use MMDs
through the decade. By
1998, the number of states with MMDs had fallen to 13.
Ironically, the
current usage of SMDs and dual-member districts is to protect particular
incumbents. It’s very peculiar that Senate President Mike Miller’s District
27, spread across Calvert, Charles, & Prince George’s County, is
broken into 3 single-member districts. Ever wonder why Mike Busch’s district was arbitrarily
cut into one safe Democratic dual-member subdistrict and a Republican
subdistrict, all within D30? Miller’s district, broken into 3 parts in
completely different counties, could never have an incumbent Delegate with the
name recognition to beat him. Busch’s district makeup meant that even if
insurgent Democrats went after him in the primary, his slatemate would likely
be the one who lost. Selective single-member districts is just part of the
incumbent protection package for leadership.
With Maryland’s
multi-member districts, the costs of running a race and the time needed to
cover the 125,000+ population districts is too much for all but the most
well-funded insurgent candidates. In many parts of the state, particularly
Prince George’s County & Montgomery County, the only way to win is by
joining the incumbent slate. This culture is deeply toxic and anti-democratic,
as it forces people to be subordinates rather than independent legislators.
Single-member districts would have 35,000 or less residents, allowing
individual legislators to develop deeper relationships with their constituents
and have a better grasp of their legislative needs. Doorknocking campaigns
would be significantly more effective. At present, many districts have 2 or 3
legislators who are all from the community. With SMDs, we’d need Democrats from
many more communities in Maryland.
If former Judicial Proceedings Chair Joe
Vallario (D23B) or current Economic Matters Chairman Dereck Davis (D25) were in
single-member districts, activists, unions, and advocacy organizations could
target them. Under the multi-member district system, these slatemasters are
protected, as their slatemates are the ones who would lose the election
instead. For instance, an attempt to oust Judicial Proceedings Chair Luke
Clippinger (D46) would threaten Robbyn Lewis. The current slate setup also
allows incumbent Senators to win re-election by relying solely on the delegate
slate. Reducing the cost of elections, the number of voters needed to win, and
forcing every candidate to campaign on their own will yield great dividends for
democracy and public accountability for politicians in this state.
Gerrymandering is
done throughout Maryland to protect incumbents as well, at both the federal and
state level. Maryland’s 6th District was drawn for former State Senator Rob
Garagiola, who lost in the 2012 Democratic primary to now-presidential candidate
John
Delaney. District 4 was redistricted to remove wealthy Black neighborhoods
from Donna Edward’s district and put them in Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s
district. District 47 was originally
drawn in 2002 specifically for former Prince George’s County Executive
Rushern Baker, prior to his first run for County Executive. District 34A was
crafted following Mary Ann Lisanti’s policies as Havre de Grace City Manager, which have
maintained racial segregation in Harford County. In District 23A, incumbent
Geraldine Valentino-Smith was able to narrowly
win reelection against grassroots progressive Shabnam Ahmed in her racial
gerrymandered district. This gerrymandering frequently cuts up communities into
having different representatives, weakening their ability to unite in
opposition against individual representatives.
While single-member
districts and computer-generated gerrymandering would likely break the Democratic supermajority in the House of
Delegates, it would also force the Maryland Democratic Party to become a
serious statewide force in the general election. Subdistricts such as the
Arbutus/Halethorpe section of District 12, Linthicum/Glenn Burnie in District
32, the northwestern Baltimore base of Yitzy Schleifer & Dalya Attar,
Olney/Ferndale in District 19, & the Fells Point & Canton waterfront of
Baltimore could be pickups for the Maryland Republican Party. But we could also
gain Democratic Delegates from Cambridge, Salisbury, Hagerstown, and in other
forgotten parts of the state where energized volunteers, small dollar
donations, & a strong social media campaign can oust a sleepy incumbent.
Single-member districts would allow
unions and advocacy organizations to target corporate Democrats and would make
it easier to elect grassroots candidates. Finally, it would force “safe”
Democrats and Republican incumbents to engage their voters or risk being
ousted. This would be a positive step for increased democratization of Maryland
and the elimination of the current machine culture within both the Democratic
and Republican parties. I strongly support single-member districts &
computer generated redistricting as electoral reforms in Maryland.
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Richard DeShay Elliott is a
Political Science Ph. D candidate at Johns Hopkins University, a public policy
researcher with Delegate Vaughn Stewart, and campaign strategist with Tim Adams
for Mayor of Bowie. You can find him on Twitter at @RichElliottMD and on Facebook.
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