Opinion: Congress should make a deal to end partisan gerrymandering

This interesting new opinion is from The Washington Post by Edward B. Foley:

The country’s electoral and voting system is in dire need of fundamental change — most urgently, to deal with the pernicious practice of partisan gerrymandering. The filibuster might stand in the way of making this critical fix, but it doesn’t need to be an insurmountable roadblock.

Democrats and Republicans should be able to craft a deal that would secure the necessary 60 votes for Senate passage. Democrats could offer concessions to establish reasonable voter identification requirements and secure the safety of mail-in voting in exchange for Republican support for nonpartisan redistricting.

First, an explanation of why it is so important for Congress to tackle partisan gerrymandering.

The Supreme Court has made clear that it won’t get involved. Even worse, the court has hinted that, given the Constitution, neither state-based ballot measures nor state-court enforcement of state constitutional clauses can take away the power to gerrymander congressional districts from state legislatures.

Read the full article here.