Thanks, Dan McCorkle, for making this column possible. I knew that if I waited long enough, some schlep would gloat on the record about how our elected officials steal elections. That someone would actually put it in writing and name names was more than I had hoped for. But that’s exactly what McCorkle did. McCorkle’s a Democratic activist who has managed or coordinated the campaigns of at least 10 high profile Democratic candidates at the local and state levels in the last seven years. Last week he sent out an email bragging about how the Democrats on the city council — including one he worked to elect — drew voter-proof city council districts guaranteed to keep the city under Democrats’ control.
“The City Council is safe because (council members Sara) Spencer, (Susan) Burgess (at the time), (Nancy) Carter and the rest of the Democrats chose. . .are you ready. . .a re- districting plan mostly drawn up by Tom Chumley in 2001 that assures the Donkey Party at least five seats of the seven districts,” McCorkle wrote. “Your Boy Mayor (Republican Pat McCrory) was a real sissy and gave up with hardly a fight! So we only have to win ONE At-Large seat in 2003 to remain in six to five control of the City.”
McCorkle went on to brag that the pro-Democrat district plan was so well drawn that even the crushing loss by the Democratic mayoral candidate — who got only 33 percent of the vote in 2001 against popular Republican Pat McCrory — couldn’t swing control of the council back to the GOP.
It’s the kind of power trip I hear off the record all the time. This may be funny to those like McCorkle — and you’ll find them in both parties — but the outcome of this kind of game should be no laughing matter to voters, who for all practical purposes have become political chess pieces to be moved around a geographical board by politicians and party hacks. Almost a third of the county’s voters might as well not bother to show up to vote in general elections because the districts they live in are so gerrymandered toward one party, that voters are virtually powerless to choose who represents them except in at-large races. Of the 20 people who serve on the county commission and city council, only the seven elected city or countywide are vulnerable to the wrath of voters. The rest can damn well do as they please with little fear of retribution at the polls.
The problem goes all the way up to the Congressional level. Democrat Mel Watt and Republican Sue Myrick, both of whom would likely be considered extremists by the general public, would practically have to commit murder on camera for their general election challengers to have a shot at winning. People like Myrick and Watt don’t keep winning because they’re popular or well-loved by all, but because state legislators voter-proofed their districts when they drew them, clumping large numbers of like-minded voters together and leaving voters who might cause trouble in small enough minorities that their input won’t hurt the pre-planned election outcome.
How do we stop this theft of voters’ real right to choose? There’s only one way, and it won’t be easy. No matter what their political leanings, voters have to turn out the lights by switching their voter registration to unaffiliated and refusing to disclose their race or sex to the board of elections — information which voters are not required by law to divulge. Party registration and race are major factors political hacks use when deciding what precincts to shuffle into what districts when they’re rigging district maps. If the majority of the people in a precinct were registered “no race, unaffiliated,” that job would become a lot harder. At first, they’d be able to rely on old voting trends for the precinct. But as people move, areas change and precincts split, voting patterns, which are constantly shifting, would become harder and harder to predict and politicians would have an increasingly difficult time isolating the voters they want.
But what if you’re a Republican living in a conservative-leaning district that elects politicians you like? Why change? Because more than likely your district is conservative because the Democrats who drew it crammed as many Republican voters into it as it could legally hold to make sure those voters wouldn’t cause trouble in other districts drawn to elect Democrats. Democrat districts here are usually drawn with the fewest number of voters possible so that Democratic voters can be stretched further to — guess what? — elect more Democrats.
If you’re a Democrat and think this situation benefits you, think again. The Republicans just narrowly took over the county commission by winning an extra at-large seat, and they’ll no doubt be redrawing the districts to suit their needs.
Changing your registration is easy. Stop by the board of elections at 741 Kenilworth Ave., Suite 202, or go to www.meckboe.org and click on “get a voter registration form.” Print the form out and fax it to 704-343-0537.
Don’t let them use you as a serf. Go politically incognito today.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2002.
