Princeton Gerrymandering Project gets an “F” for Transparency and Nonpartisanship

For those paying attention to the workings of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, we already knew that the system they use to grade redistricting plans is arbitrary and favors Democrats with two-thirds of their state ratings having a pro-Democrat bias.

New information from New Jersey reveals that the Princeton Gerrymandering Project’s bias in favor of Democrats is active and intentional. A report revealed that their staffers were actively helping Democrats draw maps that would advantage them:

Democrats admitted that they received some extra help from two Princeton Gerrymandering Project staffers who were working for [redistricting commisioner John E.] Wallace, Hannah Wheelan and Helen Brewer.

“I got the sense that they really wanted us to win,” said a Democrat who was part of the Cherry Hill meetings. “The only reason I’m not mad is because we won.”

It would be nice to know the methods the Princeton Gerrymandering Project used to put their thumb on the scale in favor of Democrats, but they refuse to make it public:

An algorithm used by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project to determine the partisan fairness of New Jersey congressional districts won’t be made public because the group says their redistricting analysis formula is proprietary.

Naturally, Republican members of New Jersey’s redistricting commission were not pleased about being shut out of the process, despite having an equal number of seats on the commission:

The moment hyper-partisan, Democrat Professor Sam Wang and his Princeton Gerrymandering Project were hired as advisors by the Democrat thirteenth member, Republicans and, more importantly, the millions of New Jerseyeans who wanted influence in the State’s federal elections, were unceremoniously boxed out of the decision-making process. 

The “Democrat thirteenth member” is Wallace, who was court-appointed to be the tie-breaking “independent member of the New Jersey redistricting commission.

This new evidence confirms that if you believed that the Princeton Gerrymander Project was anything other than a biased organization seeking to favor Democrats in redistricting, you have been duped.