Maybe we need AI to set up the districts. Simple data in: how many people, how many representatives. Nothing about parties or anything else, strictly population - which is supposedly what the Constitution envisioned. Also, given the sheer number of the people, we need to increase the number of house seats. That 1929 law restricted the number to 435, which was fine in 1929, but we have almost 3 times the population now. Why is this so damn difficult?
From all the district maps offered, select one that has the population of two districts differ by at most one, and from among those, the one that minimizes the sum of the boundary lengths of the districts. Make that the federal law, please.
The gerrymandering arms race could be nullified entirely if Congress passed legislation mandating multimember congressional districts and proportional representation. Then, for the first time in American history, every vote for a representative would really count, and we could have a viable multiparty system within the framework of the Constitution.
The chances of either major party advancing such legislation? Approximately zero.
I'm open to the idea, but need more detail. How does it really prevent gerrymandering? If I draw 4 districts for 5 members each, can I not still draw them to crack a 10% minority population so that each district has one quarter of that 10% and the minority is left without representation? Or do we just go for one 20-member district so that no population can be cracked?
If each state has a single multimember* congressional district, gerrymandering is impossible.
With multiple districts gerrymandering can still be done, but will be much less effective when there are multiple representatives elected according to the votes each receives.**
Even with a single district per state, a 10% minority will only be guaranteed representation in a state that has at least 10 congressional districts. Just 16 states meet this criterion.
*Of course there are 6 low-population states that currently have just one House member, but this could be fixed by increasing the number of seats in the House. A larger number of House seats could not only provide a more representative government, but has the additional advantage of reducing the disproportionate power of low-population states in the electoral college by making the ratio of House:Senate seats larger.
The Fair Representation Act has been introduced (again) in the 119th Congress with a whopping 6 co-sponsors -- all Democrats.
After pushing the cost of gasoline above $4 a gallon, adding to inflation, cutting health care access to millions, terrorizing legal and undocumented immigrants, engaging in rampant self-dealing corruption and giving billions to billionaires, one thing that the Greatly Oppressive Partisons can’t count are the votes of millions of Americans that they have taken for granted.
From the archaic Electoral College.. to gerrymandering.. to Citizens United .. to dark money' pouring into both parties.. this certainly now seems to be a flailing, failing democracy. IMO.
Still, I wouldn’t say both parties are the same on this issue. At least democrats actually put the question of redistricting out to the voters of California and Virginia. None of the GOP states that restricted did that, they just went ahead and did it. Democrats also at least have a national law to ban partisan redistricting ready to go. Finally, the GOP gerrymanders are set to specifically disenfranchise millions of minority voters.
One of these things is not like the other. While I certainly don’t like it I will at the moment defend the democrats gerrymanders as an unfortunate but necessary option to have a shot at keeping a liberal multiracial democracy.
Republicans are hypocrites. In other news, water is wet.
Maybe we need AI to set up the districts. Simple data in: how many people, how many representatives. Nothing about parties or anything else, strictly population - which is supposedly what the Constitution envisioned. Also, given the sheer number of the people, we need to increase the number of house seats. That 1929 law restricted the number to 435, which was fine in 1929, but we have almost 3 times the population now. Why is this so damn difficult?
Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.
From all the district maps offered, select one that has the population of two districts differ by at most one, and from among those, the one that minimizes the sum of the boundary lengths of the districts. Make that the federal law, please.
Wow will, honest math and a brief history lesson. And yes, we can all be grateful that some democrats are on the right side of this one. Thanks
The gerrymandering arms race could be nullified entirely if Congress passed legislation mandating multimember congressional districts and proportional representation. Then, for the first time in American history, every vote for a representative would really count, and we could have a viable multiparty system within the framework of the Constitution.
The chances of either major party advancing such legislation? Approximately zero.
I'm open to the idea, but need more detail. How does it really prevent gerrymandering? If I draw 4 districts for 5 members each, can I not still draw them to crack a 10% minority population so that each district has one quarter of that 10% and the minority is left without representation? Or do we just go for one 20-member district so that no population can be cracked?
If each state has a single multimember* congressional district, gerrymandering is impossible.
With multiple districts gerrymandering can still be done, but will be much less effective when there are multiple representatives elected according to the votes each receives.**
Even with a single district per state, a 10% minority will only be guaranteed representation in a state that has at least 10 congressional districts. Just 16 states meet this criterion.
*Of course there are 6 low-population states that currently have just one House member, but this could be fixed by increasing the number of seats in the House. A larger number of House seats could not only provide a more representative government, but has the additional advantage of reducing the disproportionate power of low-population states in the electoral college by making the ratio of House:Senate seats larger.
The Fair Representation Act has been introduced (again) in the 119th Congress with a whopping 6 co-sponsors -- all Democrats.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4632
**On mechanisms for running elections in multimember districts:
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/Four%20Models%20of%20Multimember%20Districts%20v2.pdf
After pushing the cost of gasoline above $4 a gallon, adding to inflation, cutting health care access to millions, terrorizing legal and undocumented immigrants, engaging in rampant self-dealing corruption and giving billions to billionaires, one thing that the Greatly Oppressive Partisons can’t count are the votes of millions of Americans that they have taken for granted.
Democrats in Congress have voted to ban partisan gerrymandering. Republicans should do the same. Until then Democrats shouldn't unilaterally disarm.
The NY-24 district, which is represented by a Republican, seems pretty compactly drawn to me. It's not a great example of a gerrymander
Without the Voting Rights Act, Donalds would have been lucky to even cast a ballot.
I want to be about fairness, however when the House of Lords I Mean Supreme Court is abetting an Ethno-State reality is King.
Democrats better start gathering seats before the pretend small-govenment people peel off their skin suits.
I don’t know about you, but this Grand Old Party just seems to be full of hypocrites.
From the archaic Electoral College.. to gerrymandering.. to Citizens United .. to dark money' pouring into both parties.. this certainly now seems to be a flailing, failing democracy. IMO.
Still, I wouldn’t say both parties are the same on this issue. At least democrats actually put the question of redistricting out to the voters of California and Virginia. None of the GOP states that restricted did that, they just went ahead and did it. Democrats also at least have a national law to ban partisan redistricting ready to go. Finally, the GOP gerrymanders are set to specifically disenfranchise millions of minority voters.
One of these things is not like the other. While I certainly don’t like it I will at the moment defend the democrats gerrymanders as an unfortunate but necessary option to have a shot at keeping a liberal multiracial democracy.