A free public forum will be held on Saturday, March 23, 10:00 a.m. at the Yale Law School, 127 Wall St. in New Haven to explore “Redistricting and the Perils of Gerrymandering.”

The League of Women Voters has stated that “Political and racial gerrymandering distorts and undermines representative democracy by allowing officials to select their voters rather than voters to elect their officials. When done for purposes of racial discrimination or to ensure the dominance of one political party, gerrymandering runs counter to equal voting rights for all eligible voters.”

The LWVCT turned to former Connecticut State Senator and long-time League member Ed Meyer to organize a panel discussion on redistricting. The forum's panelists will be: Heather Gerken, Dean of the Yale Law School and an expert on election laws; Tom Wolf, a principal of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU; Denise Merrill, Connecticut Secretary of the State; Senator Martin Looney, President Pro Tempore of the State Senate; and Senator Len Fasano, Minority Leader of the State Senate.

The LWVCT and Senator Meyer anticipate that the panelists will present a picture of various national and state procedures that either support or contradict the concept of an independent commission to be formed as the vehicle for future redistricting efforts in Connecticut.

The public is invited to attend this free event and to offer questions for the panelists.

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