MD Elections - Ballot Question 5

The Democrats, who have for many decades controlled the Maryland legislatures, have no qualms whatsoever about doing what it takes to advance the Party of Death on both the state levels and federal levels.  That includes gerrymandering the legislative district boundaries.  My first recollection of that was in 1994, when they had split MD district 15 into two districts: 15 & 39.  One of the not-so-secret reasons was to give MD representative Gene Counihan his chance to be a state senator without displacing Larry Leventhal.  Well, that was 1994, when the GOP had a massive nationwide victory, owing to Clinton's abject failures.  The MD plan backfired and both Counihan and Leventhal lost to Republicans.  I had been in district 15 until I was "remapped" into 39.

For many decades I was also in Maryland's Congressional District 8, misrepresented by pro-abortion Connie Morella.  Indeed, she had voted like a Democrat more than a Republican; she was officially Republican.  The MD Democrats remapped the Congressional lines, essentially stabbing their ally in the back; the lines were redrawn to limit District 8 to areas of large Democratic registration; areas of less Democrat populations were plopped either in District 6 or 4.  I found myself in District 4; that stretched from Montgomery Village south into Oxon Hill.  On a map it looked like an earthworm.  This time their plan worked; Morella lost that election to Chris Van Hollen.  Morella was such a pro-abortion RINO that I didn't shed too many tears over that election outcome.

But now the federal boundaries have been redrawn again.  Let's face it; they're now targeting Roscoe Bartlett, the long-time real Republican who has been representing western Maryland quite well for some time now.  The courts have upheld the maps, so we petitioned the scheme to the ballot.

To understand what I'm talking about, you'll have to see it for yourself - so here it is from the MD Dept of Planning site.  Isn't it a mess?  I'll point out some of the more ludicrous highlights.  The lavender thing is District 8.  It is literally running from the DC border to the PA border.  They've taken most of Frederic County and some of Carroll County, both conservative areas from Bartlett and coupled them with the southern half of Montgomery County, a very populated and uber-liberal area of the state.  That southern area is joined to the northern area by a strip that can't be more than a few miles wide.  To complete the effect of removing conservative voters from District 6, they extended it down to the western part of Montgomery County to diffuse the conservative votes that remain to Bartlett.  So once again I've been remapped to another district.  The bright side is that for once I don't have to be ashamed of my Congressional representative, but I digress.

Looking at Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties we see stranger configurations.  That pink are is District 5.  The northern part of that district is surrounded by District 4 which is depicted in blue.  Now look in the Baltimore area.  See how four districts twist and wind and interweave with each other.  I fail to discern any rhyme or reason there; not being up on Baltimore-area politics, I don't know what the goal of that is.  The light green area is District 3.  It starts in eastern Montgomery County and contorts its way to southern Harford County.  That is beyond weird.

Important caveat: What you thought your district was may no longer be the case.  Use the "find district by address" feature in the MD Planning website to ascertain your Congressional district.

We will get rid of this convoluted mess only by voting against Question 5.  We need districts drawn using sane geographical boundaries, regardless of the political party registration of the residents of the various districts.