GERRYMANDERING AND hOW TO fIX iT

The Greater New Brunswick Area chapter of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey is presenting a program about Gerrymandering on Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 PM at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue. The program features two nationally recognized speakers on this subject who will discuss Fixing Bugs in Democracy Using Statistics, Science, and Law.

Sam Wang is founder of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project (gerrymander.princeton.edu) and is also professor of neuroscience and molecular biology at Princeton University and a faculty associate in law and public affairs. He is well known for developing statistical methods to analyze United States elections, and he is the author of several works on statistical methods to detect partisan bias in redistricting. His election work has won awards from the Washington Post and Common Cause, and has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. Brian Remlinger, a statistical analyst at the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, will present with Dr. Wang.

The American Constitution was a pioneer in democracy. But the founders did not anticipate gerrymandering, a loophole that takes on new significance in an age of partisan polarization. Partisan gerrymanders locks in outcomes in dozens of House seats and hundreds of state legislative seats, allowing political parties to maintain power even when they win less than half the vote. This year, with the help of a little math, the Supreme Court has a chance to curb partisan gerrymandering. Basic statistics can play an important role in helping the Court — and in repairing a flaw in how our Republic works today.

For further information contact Jill Lewis-Spector, LWVNJ Board of Directors, Greater New Brunswick Area LWVNJ chapter, Event Coordinator, at jlewisprof1@gmail.com.

For more information about Highland Park Public Library events go to the website at www.hpplnj.org or call 732-572-2750.