MOCO GOP SPECIAL COUNSEL RELEASES FINDINGS AFTER STUDY OF GERRYMANDERING

Frederick Seelman, who was appointed by the Montgomery County Republican Party on October 7 to study gerrymandering of election districts by Democratic elected officials, has submitted his findings to party leaders. According to a press release, Seelman concluded that gerrymandering has contributed to one-party rule in the county, and made recommendations to reform the election system.

Seelman's report cites the compactness and lack of partisan variance in the current districts as detrimental to fair and competitive elections.  "All the thirteen of the legislative and councilmanic districts had a Democratic to Republicans ratio that exceeded 2 to 1," the report notes. "This result does not seem to be the product of a chance occurrence."

The report recommends the MCGOP begin a petition drive to gain public support for changes to the current system, and then submit formal county and state charter amendments to create those changes.