Check North Carolina District 12 - Mel Watt's old district. Can't even fit the number in it.
Posted on 06/03/2014 1:13:21 PM PDT by justlurking
Yesterday, I asked readers how they felt about setting up independent commissions to handle redistricting in each state. Commenter Mitch Beales wrote: "It seems to me that an 'independent panel' is about as likely as politicians redistricting themselves out of office. This is the twenty-first century. How hard can it be to create an algorithm to draw legislative districts after each census?" Reader "BobMunck" agreed: "Why do people need to be involved in mapping the districts?"
They're right. These programs and algorithms already exist. Brian Olson is a software engineer in Massachusetts who wrote a program to draw "optimally compact" equal-population congressional districts in each state, based on 2010 census data. Olson's algorithm draws districts that respect the boundaries of census blocks, which are the smallest geographic units used by the Census Bureau. This ensures that the district boundaries reflect actual neighborhoods and don't, say, cut an arbitrary line through somebody's house.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is one complaint. But, the truth is the Supreme Court has explicitly rejected packing people into "majority minority" districts.
You left out the most important information.
How does that redistricted Texas map vote compared to how the current district map votes?
Number of GOP congressmen - up or down?
bkmk
The Democrats love to whine that the Republicans only control the House because of Gerrymandering. But that redrawn map of Maryland would probably give the Republicans two seats.
The Eastern shore district is the only one now that’s Republican, and it probably would stay Republican since the territory on the west side of the Chesapeake is outer suburbs that lean Republican. The new northeast district is pretty Republican, and the westernmost district will again become Republican like it used to be after it loses parts of Montgomery County.
How do you propose to determine that information?
One could make an estimate, based on the precinct-by-precinct voting info. But, those boundaries don't necessarily track the census block boundaries.
Correction, my FRiend. Alan West was NEVER a Republican, he just needed a banner to run under.
Re: “I think you should chill out before you pop something.”
He was trying to be sarcastic.
As I recall, your 2012 redistricting was vigorously and noisily challenged by Democrat legislators, Democrat judges, and the MSM.
Anyway - I laughed when I read his comment.
Check North Carolina District 12 - Mel Watt's old district. Can't even fit the number in it.
I don’t propose to determine that information.
The Texas Republican and Democrat Parties will do it for me.
The Party that comes out on top will call the algorithm “brilliant” and “fair.”
Using a different algorithm, I’ll bet we could draw an aesthetically pleasing district map of Texas that guarantees Republicans will win 90% of the districts.
Wrong.
From Article I: The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand
"NOT EXCEED" is not the same thing as "SHOULD HAVE".
I find it interesting that he feels it necessary to show a table called demographics that only speaks to race. All other factors seem to be ignored.
A cursory glance at my own and neighboring states seems to suggest that the algorithm tends to split major metropolitan areas. This could either water down the liberal concentration and elect more Republicans, or it could put liberals over the top in more districts. Wonder which one?
“The Constitution calls for one representative for every 30,000 citizens. We should have 10,000 representatives.”
Better retake U. S. Constitution 101 ...
As was Alabama (which was just taken up by the Supreme Court yesterday), and a lot of other states. A summary of redistricting challenges:
http://redistricting.lls.edu/who-courtfed10.php
It's a bit out-of-date, as it doesn't include Alabama.
” the algorithm tends to “
We need a bipartisan committee to review program for biases ...
Right now, there is an Independent Commission in Arizona. It is made up of 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats and 1 ‘Independent’ chosen by the Governor. The ‘Independent’ is actually a Democrat. The 3 Dems met behind closed doors (illegal) and Gerrymandered to their heart’s content. This resulted in 5 Dem and 4 Repub Congresspeople from Arizona in the last election. We have an R Governor, 2 R Senators, an R Atty General and an R Sec of State. The Governor sued to overturn the new Congressional map and was denied by a Lib judge. THAT is what happens when the people try to get an Independent Commission.
I always thought that a computer should be used and that part of the formula should be ease to get to the polling locations.
I can see the election location for the next district in my area. I can walk there in 5 minutes, my neighbor across the road votes there, unfortunately, I have to drive 20 minutes to my polling location.
It is stupid as %#$$.
GErrymandering also means that more people are represented by politicians who agree with them.
Which would you rather, be represented by your own party, or the opposing party? Gerrymandering ensures that more people are represented by their own party.
Gerrymandering may also actually make it easier to get “better” candidates. In a district where the split is 50/50, nobody is going to look for a “better” candidate on their side than the incumbent, for fear that if they did, the other side would win. But if you are a “safe” district, you can primary the guy knowing that whoever wins the primary will still likely win the election.
bump
Yes, but why stop there? If we has the same level of representation in the US house that NH chooses to provide to their citizenry in their state house, the US house would have roughly 100,000 members. And NH pays their reps the princely sum of $100 per year for their service.
But it ain’t gonna happen. Adequate representation is so, well, retro for our overlords to be bothered with.
See tag line.
“But if you are a “safe” district, you can primary the guy knowing that whoever wins the primary will still likely win the election.”
The incumbent becomes so powerful that he acquires a huge campaign war chest. It takes three million dollars to run a successful campaign for a House seat. But an incumbent facing a primary can spend a million or two in a challenge where a new candidate would have to come up with a million or so for the primary and then three million for the actual election. It’s darn hard to primary somebody.
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