Gerrymandering

[JoeP]

Why is this even allowed to happen? Aren't you American citizens shocked? It seems like America is littered with voting districts shaped like Rorschach ink blots, long thin skinny ones, even ones with holes in, just to guarantee a safe seat for one part - and it's done time and again with bipartisan support, trading a safe seat for one here with a safe seat for the other there. The ridiculous redistricting goes on for election after election and there seems to be no process to make them sensible (the only control is the census and that seems only to be used for further gerrymandering).

Apparently only 29 of 435 House seats are are listed as competitive by Congressional Quarterly. The incumbent re-election rate in 2002 was 99%. "If you had any doubt that redistricting is stifling electoral competition, you need only look at the Senate, where the process does not apply. Of the 34 Senate races this year, a dozen could change hands." (Quotes from The Economist, but articles not available online.)

Ultimately this deprives citizens in those districts of some of their democratic rights; especially it prevents change in representation. This is surely one of the factors affecting voter turnout levels.

joe

Gerrymandering is an electoral system pathology

[ApostateAbe]

I wasn't aware of this problem until now. Do you have more information about it?

[beyelzu]

I had no idea it was this bad, although I knew that it occurred, I dont really know of an alternative.

[Godless Wonder]

In Texas, they have it down to a science. They use computers to figure optimum shapes. A couple of times the Democrat legislators fled the state in protest pursued by police, (and accompanied by humiliating banjo music on TV -- no, I"m not kidding) to prevent the legislature from having a quorum necessary to get the redistricting done, but, they couldn't hold out forever, and eventually it was done. The courts have so far said gerrymandering is a-ok,
though they are supposed to have another look at it.

from the Houston Chronicle: (May of 2003)

To increase Republican seats, crafters of the House plan pack Democratic voters in fewer districts, reducing districts with Democratic majorities from 12 to 10 and making all Democratic districts into minority districts, Alford said.

More recently, from the bbc

Using sophisticated computer programmes, political boundaries are being redrawn across the US to all but guarantee results.

It's fucking pathetic.

[wade-w]

Originally Posted by beyelzu

I had no idea it was this bad, although I knew that it occurred, I dont really know of an alternative.

You live in Georgia and didn't know how bad gerrymandering can be?

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by wade-w

You live in Georgia and didn't know how bad gerrymandering can be?

I knew that it happened alot, I didnt realize that so few seats were actually up for grabs. I also thought it happened more in the state legislature.

[Dingfod]

It's not quite as bad here in Oklahoma, but then, for the most part, the seats were safely Republican or at least occupied by Democrats that really are Republican for all intents and purposes. At least Tulsa is all in one district. I think Oklahoma City was gerrymandered about like Austin, Texas, chopped up into at least three different districts.

When I moved here to Oklahoma in 2000, I was in Congressional District 1, but now I'm in 4. I voted for Brad Carson, now running for Senate against the wingnut Tom Coburn. Since gerrymandering, my usually Democratic county is in Republican Frank Lucas' District 4, who is running opposed only by a Libertarian. This is the second time in two years there has been no Democrat running against Lucas. I'd run, but I inhaled and there are people here in Oklahoma district that can testify to that fact.

[Dingfod]

But, am I shocked? No. Angered? Yes. Is there much I can do about it? No. After all, Tom DeLay said it himself, when he spoke to the Pearland Texas Chamber of Commerce, "Republicans are the permanent majority party." That's what you get when you have all three branches of the government controlled by one party. Fuckers.