At least, I hope not.
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/637310544626720768
I mean, don’t get me wrong. 2010 was exactly the right time to take control of all those state legislatures. We were able to get a lot of anti-gerrymandering reforms done, not to mention a good deal of minority-majority district promotion; and just take a look at California, Illinois, and Maryland to see why such corrective measures were so sorely needed, too. But I think that Hillary Clinton has gotten the sequence of events entirely backward, here.
Well. Not the first time that’s happened to her, of course.
This is Hillary. She also thinks or claims to think a mob killed one of her ambassadors because of a video.
Poor dear.
Actually, I think maybe we need to undo those anti-gerrymandering reforms.
Here in Florida, the courts has made the legislators redraw a district or two every year since we first started. It is getting to the point that I fear that a Florida State Senator/Representative is going to cross over to the other Florida chamber and murder someone. RPOF Senators are in open civil war over who is going to lead the chamber next term.
Ummm, I had understood most of the troubles were coming from Dems who keep suing regardless ..
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This is one of the reasons I favor rules-based geometric districts, even if they do tend to get ugly in other ways…
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Start by determining how many of Florida’s 20 million residents are citizens and eligible to vote, then divide that by 27, one per rep.
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Starting from a geographical center point – let’s say downtown Okahumpka – draw a line due north.
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Draw a second line north-northeast such that it encompasses 1/27th of the population of Florida .. this should probably encompass a good bit of Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
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Proceed to draw additional lines so that each wedge-shaped district contains 1/27th of the eligible-to-vote citizens of Florida.
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This allows majority-minority districts to be created, they’ll be fairly thin wedges and will encompass enough non-urban areas that the reps *cannot* simply ignore ’em.
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Mew
“Ummm, I had understood most of the troubles were coming from Dems who keep suing regardless…”
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It is, but the RPOF led chambers are openly fighting each other over the redraws. And it is getting ugly.
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You just don’t get it, do you? Any rule-based drawing would be subject to court rulings. Even if it was drawn by a computer, some judge would find fault with it. Part-time state legislators have better things to do than to be called into special sessions to redraw districts every year. It was never a good idea. It will never be a good idea.
So… What, then?
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Smoke-filled back rooms and both parties agreeing to screw voters equitably?
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I… don’t see that working.
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Mew
Yes, yes I am. The current madness of subjecting political districts to lawsuits has got to stop.
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Redistricting, by definition, is a purely political exercise and should NOT be subject to judicial review. These are not geographic or governing boundaries, but political boundaries.
Easy enough. Tell the SC to go to Hell, and apportion by county.
@Luke
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Not going to work. We have 67 counties and not all of them have equal populations.
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I hate to say it, but I would rather go back to simple gerrymandering than the insane mess we in Florida currently find ourselves.
The problems you’re having are political – the Dems (or the judiciary, same net net) don’t seem to pay a cost for challenging the system.
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Until y’all figure a way to make ’em pay a cost when they challenge and lose, this will go on.
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Once you find a way, the method (gerrymandering, mathematical model, whatever) doesn’t matter.
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Futz with the enforcement side .. find a way to make challenging the maps *expensive*.
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Mew