Pennsylvania strikes a blow against gerrymandering distticts

[Critter7r]

I think what most everyone is getting at is that the districts need to be intelligently and benevolently grouped for commonalities of communities, without regard to which of the political parties those within the districts historically vote.

 

[blackjack50]

The idea of redrawing a district to me...sounds like the losers bitching that they can’t adapt and appeal to the desired constituency in the area. Why SHOULD we redraw maps? Shouldn’t the politicians just try and appeal to the voters of their district or lose?

 

[iliveonramen]

What is the "larger problem" is dependent upon what and who a Congressional representative is supposed to represent, not which national party benefits (which is a problem, but it is "the smaller problem").

Seeing as to half the country identifies with either party, if lines are drawn in a way to minimize your impact on an election, that is a pretty big deal. It actually starts eroding freedom of association which is protected by the constitution.

For example, long and skinny boundaries drawn around the port communities of the Mississippi might better represent a collective community of interest than a the "compact" quartering of a State into random mixes of urban and farming interests. To the maximum degree practical, it would seem that keeping communities whole should be the first goal (e.g. east Contra Costa and Alameda Counties of California have far more in common with one another than the urbanized centers of the west sides of those counties...but they are each split between the two congressional districts).

So what would you propose? Districts by community? Like 2 large districts spread throughout the state to concompass all farming areas then a tons of districts for all urban area and a ton of districts for all suburban areas? I just don't see a rural farmer (Using Florida for example) in north Florida in anyway connected to large industrial orange farmers in central Florida or sugar plantations in south Florida. "Communities" is such a fickle term.

A lot of people travel to the city for work and home to the suburb. Which community are they in? Are we really saying all rural areas are similar? How far down do we start looking to group communities because each district still has to have similar populations.

 

[Dittohead not!]

So . . . what's the formula? You can't create this computer program without it.

Get as close to 50% Democrats and 50% Republicans as can be accomplished, given the makup of the area.

 

[Dittohead not!]

OK. Seriously, how is one supposed to "diversify" a place like LA County or San Francisco? You'd have to bus Republicans in just to get to 10%. Here in Tucson we've got precincts that lean 80% Democrat. You can't fix that without forcing people to move.

It would be a challenge in places like SF, but then, in other places, making up a district that is all one party is a challenge that the Congress seems up to.

 

[Dittohead not!]

NO!!! Write the software to ignore pretty much EVERYTHING except the number of citizens. What you're suggesting IS gerrymandering.

Good point. Just make the districts random as to party affiliation.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Wont that dilute the black vote, the Hispanic vote, the Asian vote, and the LGBTQ-LSMFT communities?

It could. Do we want a congressman who represents blacks, or HIspanics, or Asians, or LGBTQ, or one that represents a group of Americans?

 

[radcen]

OK, but how do we know those districts are "fair"? I'm currently in one of them; I see a few potential problems. The southeastern dark blue district could easily be claimed to be gerrymandered against Democrats, given all the Republicans on the coast and the Democrats inland.

Look, what I'm looking for is an above-board definition of what constitutes a "fair" district, and an above-board method of drawing the map according to that definition.

Sounds like what you're saying is that even if they are drawn fair, someone on the short end is going to complain regardless.