everyone knows it's wrong, but no one is willing to do the right thing sounds about right gerrymandering should be illegal ps don't' be surprised that the DEM has a net gain after all the 2020 based political extremes gerrymandering is done
who appoints the commissioners? what makes them independent? what guarantees the fairness of district lines drawn by a commission?
let computers crunch the number with perhaps some inputs such as - # of constituents per representative - circular radius slowly expanding until it hit the limit - apply it the same way nationalwide heck, we could update districts every 2 years at the local level national census of every 10 years is so outdated
that doesn't guarantee a "fair" racial distribution, if that is a criteria that doesn't guarantee a D-R split that matches the overall state vote (which is what most people cry about) whomever writes/controls the algorithm becomes an immediate target for capture
good, it should not be about race but representation of a local region what do you mean by "d-r split that matches the overall state vote"? but it shouldn't be about party x or y but representation of a local region true, but you can only do so much once you define the criteria based on # and clearly defined shape
Perfect is the enemy of good. There does not have to be a perfect solution, just one that is better than the current system and process. A commission could have equal representation from both parties. They can be appointed by the respective parties, or elected by citizens from both parties. They have a set time to come up with a map members of the commission agree upon. If no agreement, then the courts can create the map. But whatever the process, gerrymandering like in Texas, NC, OH, AL... or in NY will hopefully be prevented. No surprise you want to hold onto the current system.
The last two redistrictings in MN have been done by a judicial appointed commission. MN has had few complaints regarding the districts and currently has a split of 5 D to 3 R Representatives and the state went for Biden 53%.
not according to the Voting Rights Act i.e. if a state votes 60% overall D, then 60% of the reps should be D. But a district drawn with geographic "squares" doesn't ensure that at all
The 1965 VRA outlaw discrimination voting practices, including around race, that was common in the Southern States and is having a comeback today. Representation of a local region based on geography done indiscriminately by computers and applied national-wide wouldn't allow anyone to discriminate. It can make the VRA moot concerning redistricting. Got it. The overriding principle should be local representation within a well-defined shape. It probably matches up well anyway.
A Raw Deal for New York Republicans The state’s Democrats enact an unapologetic gerrymander. https://www.city-journal.org/new-yorks-obvious-gerrymander excerpt: On February 2, New York’s Democratic-controlled state legislature approved a congressional map that would give Democrats an advantage in 22 out of 26 House of Representatives districts—potentially halving the state’s current total of eight House Republicans. The next day, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the new districts into law without objection. We shouldn’t be surprised when majority parties attempt to eliminate competitive and opposition districts in their states, but the current round of redistricting will nevertheless lead to unfortunate consequences. Empire State Republicans stood to lose even before redistricting began. The U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives every ten years in line with census results. Last year, New York discovered that it would lose one of its 27 seats, owing to population loss that mostly occurred in Republican-friendly upstate. Because each state draws its own House (and state legislative) districts, the party in control of the state legislature can favor its own candidates. For the first time in decades, Democrats enjoy supermajority control of New York’s state senate and assembly, rendering Republicans powerless. In 2012, when New York last underwent reapportionment and redistricting, the legislature failed to agree on new maps drafted by its own lawmakers, leaving the matter in the hands of a three-judge panel of “a reluctant federal court.” This time was supposed to be different. Voters approved a state constitutional amendment in 2014 that empowered a bipartisan, ten-member redistricting commission to propose congressional maps for the state legislature’s approval. But the commission couldn’t reach a workable solution. Rather than draw a single set of maps representing a compromise solution, it produced a pair of maps created by each party that, predictably, received five votes apiece. The legislature rejected both. On January 30, after the commission failed to create another set of maps, lawmakers proposed their own, which the legislature passed three days later. Governor Hochul, facing a primary challenge and presented with a chance to brighten her party’s prospects for a decade, had little reason not to sign the bill. more at the link
Unless you've abandoned your charade as a moderate Democrat, it seems you would applaud this political win rather than playing "look over there" to obfuscate the very real problem with the anti-democratic tilt of the Republican party. Go back to google and type your search carefully...
California is the sleeping giant. But citizen initiatives over there and bipartisan redistricting reform makes their representation pretty decent and proportional.
The NYT article was saying that because of Democratic gerrymandering the conventional wisdom that the GOP will take the House might not be correct. This is again one of those things where short term political gain is just continuing long term political problems. Even if the Democrats hold onto the house because the gerrymandered the shyte out of Blue states Republicans appear perfectly fine gerrymandering the shyte out of Red states. While I agree that even if Democrats were to stop gerrymandering it probably won't change Republican behavior. At this point the only solutions are state courts stepping up or if Democrats can both hold onto the house and get some more Democratic Senate seats to enact national reform on gerrymandering.
People plead for Dems to take the higher road until they get blitzed in a bad state year and get redistricted or censused all over the place. Dem leadership is also fairly greasy in terms of holding their geriatric power so I'm not sure they're as pure hearted, though less willing to play dirty It's a long con that happens every 5-10 years where they play catch-up and suffer heavy losses in otherwise safe seats
Yeap. If you leave it to the state level, no one dares to act right believing the other side won't. The only solution is national reform. And we do have one on deck. The Freedom to Vote Act bans partisan gerrymandering. Too bad 48 Rep + 2 Dem block it. And this isn't one of the items that are being considered in the election reform talks between 9 Rep Senators + Dem (btw, 9 instead of 10 so MM can still strike it down). Dem needs to hold the House and +2 Dem on the Senate side to ban partisan gerrymandering.
Yeah, the more people like Devin nunes embarrass Californians the more likely lines will get Texas'd and solidify fiefdoms among purple to hard red or hard blue districts. People are getting loonier but Cali needs to make inroads into it's homeless problem or there will be a property owner revolt
