Inquirer Editorial: House elections were 'rigged' years ago by unfair redistricting

President-elect Donald Trump warned that the election would be "rigged," and he was right. But not in the way that he suggested.

There was no valid basis for his prediction of tampering in his race against Hillary Clinton. In contrast, elections for the House were rigged years ago when the dominant parties in many states created districts so tilted toward their candidates that opponents have little or no chance of ever winning.

Every decade after the census, the 43 states with more than one congressional district are required to redraw House boundaries to ensure equitable representation. But party bosses pervert the process, especially in the 37 states where the legislature is responsible for redistricting, by using their muscle to create "safe" districts for their candidates.

Pennsylvania is one of the worst cheaters. Republicans stretched the Seventh District across five counties, from Delaware to Berks, to make it safe for U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan. He easily won a fourth term against a worthy Democratic challenger, Mary Ellen Balchunis.

The rest of Pennsylvania is almost as outrageous. The state has 4.2 million Democrats and 3.3 million Republicans, but only five House seats are held by Democrats, while 13 are held by Republicans. To no one's surprise, that didn't change Tuesday.

Such gerrymandering breeds polarization. It creates an artificial terrain where incumbents aren't challenged by having to make decisions that serve diverse constituencies. Instead of thinking out of the box, they follow a straight path, fearing that if they fall out of lockstep with the hive mind of homogenous voters, they might face a more formidable primary foe.

Because general election outcomes are all but guaranteed in tilted congressional districts, primaries provide the best route to replace incumbent House members. But primary voters tend to have a narrow focus, so candidates dare not venture too far from party orthodoxy if they want to win. That's how the tea-partyers who bully moderate Republicans infiltrated Congress.

Pennsylvania has a redistricting commission, with the Democratic and Republican legislative leaders each choosing two members and a fifth tiebreaker member chosen by the state Supreme Court.

The good-government group Common Cause of Pennsylvania recommended replacing the commission with a panel of qualified volunteers who would ignore party preferences and draw district lines based on demographic and other objective data. But that idea died when the Republican-controlled legislature buried the bill in committee on April Fools' Day.

That shows the Republicans aren't serious about reform, but the joke will be on them if they ignore the clear message in Tuesday's election that voters want candidates who don't represent the status quo.