America is full of ‘democracy deserts’. Wisconsin rivals Congo on some metrics

Gerrymandering allows legislators to ignore what voters really want. And experts fear it's about to get a lot worse

The United States is becoming a land filled with democracy deserts", where gerrymandering and voting restrictions are making voters powerless to make change. And this round of redistricting could make things even worse.

Since 2012, the Electoral Integrity Project at Harvard University has studied the quality of elections worldwide. It has also issued bi-annual reports that grade US states, on a scale of 1 through 100. In its most recent study of the 2020 elections, the integrity of Wisconsin's electoral boundaries earned a 23 - worst in the nation, on par with Jordan, Bahrain and the Congo.