John Oliver Explains How Gerrymandering Hurts the “Foundation of Democracy”


On Sunday, John Oliver took on the issue of political gerrymandering to explain how the process of re-drawing voting districts in order to unfairly benefit whichever party draws up the lines weakens the democratic process. As the Last Week Tonight host noted, the technique is partly responsible for providing Republicans with an “edge” in the House of Representatives, even though more Americans voted for Democrats in recent congressional elections.

“In a democracy, the question of who gets to draw the map should not have as much significance as it currently does,” Oliver said.

“Election results should not be the result of politicians’ crazy lines. They should be the result of our own crazy decisions.”

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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