Virtual Conversation with Nick Seabrook (One Person, One Vote: A Surprising History of Gerrymandering in America)
A redistricting crisis is now upon us. This surprising, compelling book tells the history of how we got to this moment—from the Founding Fathers to today’s high-tech manipulation of election districts—and shows us as well how to protect our most sacred, hard-fought principle of one person, one vote. Here is THE book on gerrymandering for citizens, politicians, journalists, activists, and voters.
Nick Seabrook, author of One Person, One Vote: A Surprising History of Gerrymandering in America, and Catherine Weller will have a virtual discussion about the curious history of gerrymandering and how it is affecting American citizens right now.
Join us Thursday, June 16th at 2 PM. Free and open to the public. This event is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Utah. Tune into our Facebook page to catch the livestream!
About One Person, One Vote
Nick Seabrook, an authority on constitutional and election law and an expert on gerrymandering (pronounced with a hard ‘G’!), begins before our nation’s founding, with the rigging of American elections for partisan and political gain and the election meddling of George Burrington, the colonial governor of North Carolina, in retaliation against his critics. The author writes of Patrick Henry, who used redistricting to settle an old score with political foe and fellow Founding Father James Madison (almost preventing the Bill of Rights from happening), and of Elbridge Gerry, the Massachusetts governor from whose name “gerrymander” derives.
One Person, One Vote explores the rise of the most partisan gerrymanders in American history, put in place by the Republican Party after the 2010 census. We see how the battle has shifted to the states via REDMAP—the GOP’s successful strategy to control state governments and rig the results of state legislative and congressional elections over the past decade. Seabrook makes clear that a vast new redistricting is already here, and that to safeguard our republic, action is needed before it is too late.
About Nick Seabrook
NICK SEABROOK is a professor in the department of political science and public administration at the University of North Florida. The author of Drawing the Lines: Constraints on Gerrymandering in U.S. Politics, he lives in Jacksonville, Florida.
About Catherine Weller
Catherine Weller is new books buyer for Weller Book Works. She has also served the League of Women Voters of Utah in a variety of roles including president. Catherine currently serves on the LWVUT Redistricting Committee.
A redistricting crisis is now upon us. This surprising, compelling book tells the history of how we got to this moment—from the Founding Fathers to today’s high-tech manipulation of election districts—and shows us as well how to protect our most sacred, hard-fought principle of one person, one vote.