As politicians work in secret to carve their states into bizarrely shaped districts to protect their parties’ seats, they invariably confirm the public’s worst fears of shady back-room deals designed to squeeze voters themselves out of the political process. The last redistricting effort in Massachusetts, in 2001, resulted in former House Speaker Tom Finneran pleading guilty to obstruction of justice after claiming under oath that he had nothing to do with the process. Redistricting gives the party in power the chance to shape the political map to its advantage - which everyone in politics likes to do, but nobody wants to be seen doing. Inevitably, redrawing districts does something else as well: It dredges up Americans’ disgust over insider politics.
In Massachusetts this means losing a valuable congressional seat the proposals for how this might shake out are expected to emerge from the State House this fall. Massachusetts, like other states across the country, is gearing up this year to redraw its political boundaries, fitting electoral districts to America’s shifting population and reshaping its political map for the next decade.
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