Eric H. Holder, Jr. is the Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and the 82nd Attorney General of the United States. Neera Tanden is the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors; view more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Too often in the United States, our lawmakers prize their own reelection more than actually doing the work that matters for their constituents or their policy preferences.

This problem is exacerbated by politicians who use partisan gerrymandering to hand-pick their voters instead of allowing the people to choose their representatives. Once their reelection is assured, these politicians frequently ignore the voters' concerns about some of the most pressing issues of our time -- including curbing the epidemic of gun violence.

Eric Holder

Neera Tanden

In its most pernicious form, partisan gerrymandering can allow a particular party to earn a minority of the statewide vote but still hold a majority of seats in the state legislatures -- or in the US House of Representatives. Put another way, a majority of the people can be governed by the minority party. This corruption of the democratic process has occurred with alarming frequency in recent years.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) has conducted a study that examines the most recent elections for every seat in the state legislatures of North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In each state, residents cast more total votes for Democrats than they did for Republicans. Yet, in all four of these places, Republicans currently control both houses of the state legislature.

Partisan gerrymandering allows these politicians -- who know they will retain majorities before the elections even happen -- to stop listening to the citizens of their state while they pander to the extremes of their base and the special interests who fund their reelection. Just ask advocates trying to address the critical issue of preventing gun violence.