How Can We Eliminate Gerrymandering?

I realize there were flaws with the California initiative. But we lost in Ohio too! I know there's an effort underway in Florida. But what if it loses too?

And I'm not interested in a Democratic gerrymander either.

I want the Democratic leadership to promise that if they regain power in the House they will pass a law mandating independent commissions to draw congressional districts.

Actually, what I'd really prefer are multi-member districts elected through the Single-Transferrable-Vote Proportional Representation mechanism. But I'm realistic about what can be passed.

My other hope had been that the Supreme Court would invalidate them, but that's unlikely since Bush is still in office and the judges he appointed are not going to flip it (the liberal 4 said it was unconstitutional, but the majority ruled it was not an issue). I'd hoped that if Kerry were president, he'd appoint judges who would declare it contrary to the spirit of the COnstitution.

What are the prospects for redistricting reform now?

Eliminating it would be difficult because of geographic demographics. Nothing in life is totally fair, however, it usually evens out eventually.

And with single-member districts, many are going to be uncompetitive regardless.

But I would like if we had genuinely nonpartisanly-drawn districts that represented genuine communities. I'd be quite happy if regularly 1/2 the House was competitive in any given election year. Now, I admit a lot of that is also due to other factors like money. So any attempt at competitive elections will also require stronger public financing and spending limits, along with easier ballot access and stronger local and grassroots organizations.

But fairly-drawn districts are important too.

When you vote for a first and second choice. That would help. It dilutes the power of the parties.

Goodnight. :hi:

That'd be cool!

That's all that needs to be done. If Dems abstain from gerrymandering, the practice becomes a political liability for the opposition. Simple as that. Redistricting is a political tool, nothing more. The more that the public realizes this, the better.

MojoXN

Purely on population density. Start at the state capital and work out from there. Anybody can write a similar program to check that it's fair and accurate.

The people still need to have their regional and cultural interests protected. Finding balance is an imperfect thing. :dilemma:

That's what has gotten us into this mess. If you want to protect cultural and regional interests, then just leave the system the way it is because that's what it does.

We should be grouped into blocks according to our PROXIMITY via a statistical program. That is ONLY fair.

there are some interests that bind a particular region together which have nothing to do with one's political party. In California there are many types of geographical boundaries and a district may share characteristics based on its geography. In a region that is flat with little variation, then it may be more difficult to define a district in this way.

There is no way that is fair other than 'random districting' OMG ppl may be forced to work w/each other to achieve common or individual goals.

and the computers just play it as it lays.. I am sick of gerrymandering, regardless of WHO does it..