Free Gerrymandering Screening

 The Trumbull and Westport Democratic Town Committees in conjunction with the Fairfield Chapter of Democracy for America and Connecticut Common Cause will hold a free screening of the movie GERRYMANDERING on Sunday June 5 from 2-4 p.m. in the McManus Meeting Room at the Westport Library located at 20 Jesup Road Westport, CT 06880 (behind Klaffs). 

Writer/Director Jeff Reichert will be on hand to discuss the making of this eye-opening documentary about how voting districts get draw across this country and the profound consequences this process has on our democracy and the concept of representative government.

Reichert says: “Redistricting is, at heart, an issue about representation, a question that undergirds the very reason the United States became a country in the first place.  And if you take a long enough historical view of the U.S. you start to realize that what we mean when we use the word “representation” has changed over time, as have the structures in place that determine how “representation” actually works.”

Every year, in elections across the country, a wide majority of district races are non-competitive. Often, this is because district lines have been drawn to favor one party or group at the expense of another. Many races are decided before a single vote is cast. For the first time, GERRYMANDERING exposes the most effective form of election manipulation short of outright fraud.

Now that the 2010 Census is complete, will you know where your district went or whether your vote will count? Attend the free screening of this important film and learn what your high school civics teachers never told you: how our democracy really works.