From Cindy Sharretts:
As long as voter registration data and election results are used for redistricting, district boundaries will be drawn, to some degree, to achieve calculated election outcomes. Though a Maryland tradition, that practice is not a scenario for honest elections and in Maryland it is an unconstitutional practice.
Our Declaration of Independence acknowledges that God exists and our rights come from Him. The purpose of government is to secure those rights. We the People give to government limited powers, so that it is able to secure those rights.
The Maryland Constitution Declaration of Rights (which is our law) states the following:
We, the People of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution in this State for the sure foundation and more permanent security thereof, declare:
Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole . . . .
Article 7. That the right of the People to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free Government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution, ought to have the right of suffrage.
Article 36. That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore, no person ought by any law to be molested in his person or estate, on account of his religious persuasion, or profession, or for his religious practice, unless, under the color of religion, he shall disturb the good order, peace or safety of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality, or injure others in their natural, civil or religious rights . . . .
Article 37. That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification of any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God . . . .
We should conclude then that, based on our Maryland Constitution, Gerrymandering by Government to secure Election Results is Disenfranchisement of Voters:
As stated in the Declaration of Rights, elected officials in Maryland must have a belief in the existence of God and, from within that belief, may not injure others in their natural or civil rights. Citizens ought to have the right of suffrage and those elected must serve to protect that right.
Instead, in Maryland, the very Government formed by the People to protect the already-existing rights of the People steals those rights by manipulating voter data to achieve election outcomes. That Government rejects its actual responsibility while it usurps authority from the very entity, The People, that gives it specified powers.
Gerrymandering by either Party is an offense to our Republic and its citizens. In Maryland the Democratic Party has the number of votes to draw the maps to its favor, and so it does.
Regarding the use of federal legislation on Maryland redistricting:
Some legislators make the mistake of perpetuating the unconstitutional practice of allowing the federal government to control Maryland’s process, while it is the duty of those legislators to prevent that very federal encroachment, a duty of interposition especially recognized by the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment. Federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act have been forced upon states through the misuse of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but that does not change the true unconstitutionality of that practice: in this case, the promotion of partiality by requiring that voting districts be drawn to secure a pre-planned percentage of so-called minority elected officials. Our Maryland Constitution Declaration of Rights addresses this as well (We, the People of the State of Maryland . . . declare):
Article 2. The Constitution of the United States, and the Laws made, or which shall be made, in pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, are, and shall be the Supreme Law of the State; and the Judges of this State, and all the People of this State, are, and shall be bound thereby; anything in the Constitution or Law of this State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Article 3. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution thereof, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people thereof.
Article 4. That the People of this State have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof, as a free, sovereign and independent State.
Article 45. This enumeration of Rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the People.
Article III, Section 5 of the Maryland Constitution says that the governor’s legislative redistricting plan “shall conform to Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Article.” Those sections do not include the use of voter registration or election results. Clearly they could not state such criteria, because that same Constitution requires that elected and appointed persons take and subscribe to an Oath of Office, which includes a promise that those persons will support the Constitution of the State of Maryland without partiality or prejudice. Congressional and legislative district boundaries created with the use of voter and election information are the end products of a process of partiality.
Our delegates, our senators, and our governor must obey their constitutional oath. Since the purpose of government is to secure the rights of the People, we should demand that our legislators and governor put a stop to the practice of securing the desires of a Party and, instead, secure the rights of the People. In America and in Maryland, one of the most valuable of those rights is the opportunity to vote in an honest election.
Cindy Sharretts
Harford County
Very well written and sourced, and much appreciated.
Best regards….Chuck Van Zee
Well said. You will never see any change in Maryland or the entire US for that matter until we have TERM LIMITS. We have created a ruling class in this Country and until we make a change with real term limits, (1 four year term then out), the problem will only get worse.
Only comment is that, although never challenged in SCOTUS, portions of Article 36, The second clause of Article 37 are unconstitutional.
It would also be nice if you stated Art 3 sec 5 for us so we can see what the plan must conform to. Keep in mind unless prohibited by those sections a plan can conform to them and still use the data you refer to, although I agree is a bad idea to use that data. I think a plan should include county lines or lines drawn by bodies of water. Even all the GOP alternative plans have attempted to gerrymander, just in their favor. No party has presented a plan that is absent of these things.