From Larry Hogan’s Facebook Page on March 20th:

Today, certain members of the legislature voted to kill nonpartisan redistricting reform that would finally end the unconstitutional practice of gerrymandering.

For far too long, Maryland voters’ rights to free and fair elections have been trampled on by partisan politicians, and today’s vote in the legislature is another example of this long and shameful history.

Gerrymandering and underhanded political rigging of voting districts stifles free speech and deprives our citizens of real electoral choices, which is why our administration will never stop fighting for nonpartisan redistricting reform.

Marylanders should be choosing their elected representatives, not the other way around. The politicians who voted “Yea” in the document below are the people who voted to shoot down our common sense Redistricting Reform Act.

Call them; let them know it’s unacceptable, and that you will not stand by quietly while this is taking place => http://bit.do/MDHouseRulesCommittee

Here is the image mentioned above:

I am someone who resides in Congressional District 3…one of the worst drawn districts in the nation. Here is what it looks like on a map:

I FULLY support redistricting and thought HB 385 was a good step forward towards fixing something that is a real problem here in Maryland. I am super disappointed that two of my state Delegates (Turner and Pendergrass in District 13) were among those that voted against this bill. I have reached out to them and asked why they did not support his bill and if they do actually support redistricting in Maryland. I hope to get an answer to those questions soon. Stay tuned…I will let you know if I ever hear back…

Erin Cox of the Baltimore Sun wrote an article yesterday on this topic. In that article it says:

(quoted text removed at the request of the Baltimore Sun)

So instead of Maryland leading on this issue and address a problem that 70% of Marylanders support (per the Goucher Poll on February 2017), Miller and Busch propose a plan that they know will never happen. Why pass any new laws on gun control, sanctuary status, fracking or ANY other new laws until we get buy in and agreement from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina that they have the same laws enacted (yes, that will never happen either – that is my point).

The 2018 elections will be here before you know it…and the big question is will voters remember this vote and will they go to the polls to do something about it.

Scott E