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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1353860
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1353860
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Come and talk to Wisconsin, first and foremost.
I told hubby this morning about the GOP legislature’s move to change the focus for public health from scientists to politicians (part of the new bill they finally got around to passing after over 200 days of inactivity and over 5,000 people dead from the virus).
All he could say was he couldn’t wait to leave Wisconsin. If the house renovations at the farm in CT were done (and they aren’t), I told him we’d be leaving now.
Gerrymandering here will be very difficult to overturn. Very difficult.
Oh, and they are also working on a bill to allocate electoral votes by congressional district:
GOP has bill to reallocate Wisconsin’s electoral votes by congressional district - Wisconsin Examiner
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I don’t see gerrymandering as a cause at all.
Remember, the GOP has been pro-voter suppression for my entire life, and I’m on Medicare. GOP rage media has been with us for 30-plus years.
This is a cult, and no law on its own will alter that.
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I do, there are multiple causes as with everything. You named a couple of others, lack of quality education is another. Around here gerrymandering has meant that Dems usually don’t bother to field anyone. That means only those that are registered as an (R) get to choose. The simple reason, unless I also register as an (R), I get no say because I can’t vote in the primaries. Since Dems haven’t fielded anyone the primary winner walks away with the position. There is usually not even the single line on the ballot come November where I could “protest” by skipping that line.
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I live in the 2nd District of Indiana. Our horrid “representative” is Jackie Walorski and she is the beneficiary of a gerrymandered district. She is so secure in her position/reelection, that she doesn’t feel the need to meet with constituents or answer their correspondence. We need to get rid of gerrymandering!
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They get away with it because the wrote the rules in the first place, and they can afford to fund endless bodies within bodies to do the process to death in the details.
The Left needs money, an immutable coalition, and an industry for good.
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It is vital that the voters choose the politicians and not the other way around! An end to gerrymandering would likely lead to more moderate conservatives and more moderate liberals winning elections in competitive districts. Hence, the representatives in Congress would be more likely to compromise and actually get things done. There will always be a few crazier ones in safer districts that shout and stamp their feet, but they would be fewer in number.
Now, if we could also get a popular vote for President, so votes in NH, FL, CA, PA, and TX all count the same, it would be even better for the country!
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I was born in Wisconsin (Waukesha) long before it became the Alabama of the North.
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Gerrymandering isn’t the cause, but it is an amplifier.
These Qanon and Sedition Caucus Reps would be languishing away in county-level GOP backwaters if not for gerrymandered districts.
However, we will need to do much more than end gerrymandering to fix our democracy.
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How does the For the People Act purport to fix gerrymandering? I see that it aims to use Independent Redistricting Commissions, but don’t see how the states can be forced to adopt them - there’s no way the Supreme Court will make them do so as they are barely willing (and now, possibly unwilling) to uphold the IRC’s that presently exist. Certainly none of this will be resolved prior to the upcoming apportionment.
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I feel there’s a huge leap between a gerrymandered state and an attack on the US Capitol during a constitutionally mandated session.
Gerrymandering is a result of the GOP’s long-term strategy of white supremacy, income inequality, Democrats-are-evil, pro-corporation, authoritarian policies, not a cause. It played no role in Trump’s win in 2016, nor in his bullying, lying, and Twitter rants.
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Maybe Dems should just run the Republican that gets primaried as the Democrat in these districts. Half-joking?
As usual, federal funding is the lever, and bringing lawsuits under the 14th Amendment, Voting Rights Act, and Civil Rights Act.
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Like this 1000 times.
Which 10 Republican senators are going to vote for this legislation?
ETA: To be more specific, which 10 Republican senators are going to vote for cloture so the legislation can move forward to a final vote?
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State-level gerrymandering of legislative districts to sustain GOP control to implement vote suppression measures was a factor in giving Trump those slim majorities to get the electoral win.
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This is what Congress could do to help:
- Increase the number of representatives in the House. The current limit of 435 is imposed by a statute and can be changed.
- Pass laws that prohibit political gerrymandering of House districts. The Constitution gives Congress the power to pass laws regarding the election of representatives.
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It may or may not be obvious. Send this as a memo to each Democratic member of the House and Senate. They may need reminding after all the heinous bullshit they are currently experiencing.
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To help with House gerrymandering and also with the Electoral College (which we are chained to) the Democrats should consider two steps:
First, expand the size of the House from the 435 set over a century ago. The UK Parliament has 650 members. That would increase the relative strength of the large states.
Second, get rid of the “first past the post in single member districts” system. You could either have proportional representation on a state-wide bases, multi-member districts with proportional representation, or the German system of individual districts balanced out by “extra” legislators selected to represent the popular vote.
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My immediate reaction to that was that the Elections Clause (Article I, section 4) only allows Congress to regulate the “time, places, and manner of holding elections,” but the wingnut legal position is that the Elections Clause covers redistricting too. I guess it’s the “manner” of holding elections? Anyway, see Arizona State Leg. v. Arizona Indep. Redistricting Comm.
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