Court orders Florida’s congressional districts redrawn

[SlevinKelevra]

Court orders Florida

The new maps are likely to reconfigure parts of nearly all of the state’s 27 congressional districts, open the door to new candidates, and threaten incumbents, who will now face a new set of boundary lines and constituents close to the 2016 election.

The court ordered the most revisions in South Florida, including Districts 25, 26 and 27, currently held by Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, saying the Legislature “needlessly” divided minority communities to benefit Republicans.

Writing for the majority, Justice Barbara Pariente affirmed the trial court’s findings that the congressional map was “’taint[ed]’ by unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbents.”

Good, a start towards improvement. However, I still think districting should be done with a simple computer program.

 

[MrT]

Good, a start towards improvement. However, I still think districting should be done with a simple computer program.

Or an independent commission like the one upheld as constitutional in Arizona

 

[SlevinKelevra]

Or an independent commission like the one upheld as constitutional in Arizona

This computer programmer solved gerrymandering in his spare time - The Washington Post

Old but good.

 

[OrphanSlug]

I agree, a program could have this done with an accuracy that the political spin machine and political protectionism would not allow.

 

[Summerwind]

I agree, a program could have this done with an accuracy that the political spin machine and political protectionism would not allow.

Unless one of them got ahold of the code, paid someone to alter the code, had some other entity write the code.... It's not the code that did it, as much as a non-partisan programmer. Code could be written to be just as bad as what was just disallowed.

 

[SlevinKelevra]

Unless one of them got ahold of the code, paid someone to alter the code, had some other entity write the code.... It's not the code that did it, as much as a non-partisan programmer. Code could be written to be just as bad as what was just disallowed.

but see the link above, we'd see the output, and know that someone had "hacked" it.
the results for thoroughly consistent and fair districting are largely predictable.

 

[Summerwind]

but see the link above, we'd see the output, and know that someone had "hacked" it. the results for thoroughly consistent and fair districting are largely predictable.

Which doesn't change but instead supports my point, which is that it isn't the code that's doing it, it's the person writing the code.... as you say, pretty much anyone knows what fair districting looks like and it could have been had everywhere all the time, and it isn't. So it's a person's desire to provide code for fair districting, ie the person that created fair coding, that makes it "fair" in it's outcome, not the coding per se.

 

[DifferentDrummr]

There needs to be a constitutionally mandated districting algorithm.

 

[SlevinKelevra]

Which doesn't change but instead supports my point, which is that it isn't the code that's doing it, it's the person writing the code.... as you say, pretty much anyone knows what fair districting looks like and it could have been had everywhere all the time, and it isn't. So it's a person's desire to provide code for fair districting, ie the person that created fair coding, that makes it "fair" in it's outcome, not the coding per se.

Well, I pretty much agree, the only thing is determining what the optimization agorithm and objective functions are.
But my point is, simply, since we can all recognize it (success, visually, on a map), the "code" can just run every census , and we'd know if something went terribly wrong, fix it, and (hopefully) execute the scumbag involved.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

but see the link above, we'd see the output, and know that someone had "hacked" it.
the results for thoroughly consistent and fair districting are largely predictable.

Until your code leaves black neighborhoods without a black congressman because it doesn't make minority majority districts, then your code will be forgotten pretty quick

Or if you have each district with insignificant rural population with a slice of city controlling the district.

The reason districts are drawn the way they are is to ensure different interest groups get adequate representation. Gerrymandering is a boogeyman yet used by sore losers to justify why they can't win anywhere.

And it's an insult to the fact legislatures and districting commissions have to spend many hours setting these up. There's many more factors then a square district, it's an inherently political process, someone's bound to be upset

 

[DifferentDrummr]

Until your code leaves black neighborhoods without a black congressman because it doesn't make minority majority districts, then your code will be forgotten pretty quick

Or if you have each district with insignificant rural population with a slice of city controlling the district.

The reason districts are drawn the way they are is to ensure different interest groups get adequate representation. Gerrymandering is a boogeyman yet used by sore losers to justify why they can't win anywhere.

And it's an insult to the fact legislatures and districting commissions have to spend many hours setting these up. There's many more factors then a square district, it's an inherently political process, someone's bound to be upset

Nonsense. "Safe" districts are bad for everyone living there. Those in the minority are written off, and those in the majority are taken for granted. Nobody has a voice anymore.