UNRIGGING THE ELECTORAL MAPS: NORTH CAROLINA HAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO FIX ITS HYPERPOLARIZED VOTING DISTRICTS.

• Author: Woronoff, David
• Position: OPINION

As business executives, we know all too well that we're only one bad decision away from landing on the wrong side of history. Look no further than Elbridge Gerry: He signed the Declaration of Independence, was a framer of the U.S. Constitution and helped draft the Bill of Rights. And, he was governor of Massachusetts, a congressman and vice president to James Madison.

Yet, we don't remember him as a founding father, but rather the father of partisan redistricting. In 1812, while governor of Massachusetts, he approved a redistricting plan for the voting districts that favored his Democratic/Republican Party candidates over those of the rival Federalist Party.

The Boston Gazette published an editorial cartoon that depicted the unusual shape of the redrawn voting district as a salamander. Since Gerry was the mastermind behind the newly drawn districts, the Gazette graciously gave him naming rights--calling the mythical creature a Gerrymander. The name stuck.

Fast forward 200 years: With the use of powerful computer technology that harnesses troves of big data and sophisticated algorithms, we're able to create partisan districts with such precision they would make Elbridge Gerry blush. Two centuries of history suggest that politicians of any stripe are incapable of keeping their thumbs off the scale when weighing electoral boundaries.

North Carolina is no different: Republicans were for redistricting reform before they were against it, and Democrats were against it before they were for it. Governor Roy Cooper voted against reform as a state legislator. Now that his party is out of power, he's for it. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger co-sponsored five redistricting reform bills when his party was out of power. Now, he's not sure reform is necessary.

So, why is our process broken? Powerful software that compiles demographic and socioeconomic profiles, voter registrations, campaign contributions and other public records can be fed into sophisticated algorithms to predict how people will vote. This information is then used to draw district maps with lines zigzagging across streets, neighborhoods and communities.

To make matters worse, these gerrymandered districts have coarsened our political environment. They're the root cause of the political polarization we see every day. When we create safe voting districts that are drawn to ensure a certain political party will win, there is no incentive for politicians to compromise. If an elected...