A hypothetical problem with solving gerrymandering

[Craig234]

Consider the following scenario:

A state is voting 60% Rep/40% Dem

Therefore they elect majority Rep legislature and governor

That government abuses its power and gerrymanders the state so that 90% of the congressional seats go to Republicans

Republican voters say 'great, more power for us, no problem here'

How do you fix that?

The courts have been very reluctant to get involved in districting issues.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Consider the following scenario:

A state is voting 60% Rep/40% Dem

Therefore they elect majority Rep legislature and governor

That government abuses its power and gerrymanders the state so that 90% of the congressional seats go to Republicans

Republican voters say 'great, more power for us, no problem here'

How do you fix that?

The courts have been very reluctant to get involved in districting issues.

In Texas the courts essentially re-draw the lines.

But a better choice would be to allow rolling overlapping zones; where two or three representatives serve any one spot of land, but where in half or 1/3rd of those served must not also be in the other person's constituency. In the below image each name (ie jeff) is representative of enough people to constitute 1/2 of a representative. So, while the republicans may still force the R/D split into their favor, overlapping zones will force a kind of 'fuzzy edge' in which lines must bleed over and at-least at the margin actual competitiveness will have to happen. (keep in mind that, most of these shenanigans take place by drawing long squiggle lines, or clumping the center of a city into a small 99% democrat pot; this would force the squiggle lines to blur and the small pot to spill over.)

Of course the European system of voting for the party of interest as a whole and then selecting a number of Representative equal to the population proportion (instead of winner take all cut into cubes), with the addition of approval-voting, makes the most sense for allowing disparate voices to be heard while still reflecting the general will of the population.

 

[CrackRabbit]

The only solution is to force Representative districts to be based solely on already established boundaries of counties and cities, and districts/wards within cities for populations large enough to warrant it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The only solution is to force Representative districts to be based solely on already established boundaries of counties and cities, and districts/wards within cities for populations large enough to warrant it.

Doing so can also ensure a high concentration of one in a small physical area.

Witness PA. Three heavily democratic strongholds; Philly. Scranton and Pitt. Tossing out numbers, 80% of the Democratic leaning voters are concentrated in those general areas.

If the state is 60% Democratic, they have an overwhelming force in areas that is going to waste and therefore diluting the rural representation. It is the rural group that then controls the local government.

Who is at fault. The system that wants districts to be equally populated? Or the people that want proportional representation? The system of equal population is mandated. If the people do not want proportional representations, that is their choice. They choose where to live and stacks the deck that way.

Gerrymandering by cherry picking is wrong.
All try to do it, if it is unreasonable those that ate directly impacted by such have legal recourse.

Someone CA should have no say in the way PA selects their Reps.

Others feel that PA having more of one party than they population is distributed requires adjustment. If so, move to PA where you feel there is gerrymandering and file s legal suit.

Is it fair to alter three neutral districts into three safe districts.

 

[ivwshane]

No matter what the solution is the only way to fix it is at the federal level. Once your party is in power and the lines are drawn you would have to be a fool to change them. And good luck getting anything done at the federal level, not because they won't try anything but because I'm pretty sure it's a solid states right issue.

Like a free market without competition, a representative government without proportional representation is a recipe for inaction or corrupt behavior.