Elections: special features

ELECTIONS – SPECIAL FEATURES

Gerrymandering is an old trend in the United States of America where certain parties draw voting districts by using the stronger politician party’s might over another running for the same office. This way they are creating unfair practices and other deceptions. However, such elections do not represent the preferences of the majority of the population. Furthermore, gerrymandering is being justified with statements such as that it has been around for more than 250 years now. Therefore, it gets very clear that gerrymandering is not a good approach to equal and honest elections.

The reasons for gerrymandering having been around for over 250 years are quite understandable and pretty obvious: politicians are so used to drawing the lines of the US borders. They take this opportunity to give themselves freedom and liberty to do as they please. For example, when one controlling party moves their jurisdiction to improve their chances to win the election, even if it goes against people’s voices. Many politicians take that loophole in the current politics and use it to their advantage. Therefore, it is of extreme importance to speak up and fight against it. And that’s exactly what we should do! Especially now, when gerrymandering is, in fact, used in several countries such as France, the UK…

However, every single state in America is confronted with gerrymandering. The parties use this restriction as a political weapon. For this reason, several states have decided to change the process of drawing borders by excluding lawmakers. This would mean that the procedure is put into the hands of an impartial authority. If all states adapted this way of drawing the US borders, it would be a major political improvement and give all parties a proper chance to succeed. Wouldn’t this be uniform towards the US politics?

Nevertheless, the decisions made during an election concern numerous Americans. Even those who didn’t use or couldn’t use their right to vote. It is important to make voting fair and give every individual the same chance to choose whoever they believe will represent them best. Gerrymandering should not be how politics is handled in the future. If we don’t commit ourselves to solving this way of handling politics, we might fail many citizens of the US. It certainly is time that all the representatives of each state and both parties come together and find a compromise.

It is of extreme importance to give both parties the same chance. Accordingly, something has to be changed. It is necessary to reach a common agreement which supports both parties equally. In order to achieve this, it is important that those affected speak out about the injustices. We have to show the parties that gerrymandering is no longer a suitable approach for politics in the US. Without an equitable treaty, it won’t lead us to the desired result. It is, therefore, in the interest of everyone to express our opinion, as well as to express our doubts about the current system. No change, no success!

Your op-ed could benefit from a little more editing to make sure the text is coherent. I know you had a hard time cooperating on this assignment, but I still hope you can take away something from my remarks!