Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for Aug. 23, 2021 - NH's Special Committee on Redistricting meets Aug 25th, struggles with transparency

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. Last Friday, the NH Special Committee on Redistricting announced its third meeting, this Wednesday, Aug. 25th at 10 am, and indicated that's its agenda is a discussion of the homegrown 2011 software selected by the committee to draw new voting district maps for the state. The public can attend but will not be able to speak. The Special Committee has had only one public hearing, its first meeting, and only Open Democracy and the League of Women Voters got a word in. But to date, the committee has neither set a schedule of meetings, nor said when and where the county hearings will be held in October. Nor has the committee said what criteria will be used for mapping. One thing HAS been made clear: The public will not be able to participate remotely, as Speaker Packard has forbade public or legislator participation via Zoom. The lack of transparency has made democracy advocates suspicious, given the gerrymandering of New Hampshire's voting districts in 2001 & 2011. As a result, activists will be turning out in numbers for this Wednesday to demand a transparent process. In the meantime, a coalition of groups has launched the Map-a-Thon, a citizen-drawn mapping project, which is using a fair, nonpartisan and transparent process to draw maps. More on the Map-a-Thon and its work next week. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl.