Redistricting - Opposing Gerrymandering

News from the US Redistricting Politics

The REDMAP

REDMAP for Redistricting Majority Project

The Atlas Of Redistricting

Hating Gerrymandering Is Easy. Fixing It Is Harder

It was never a secret. In 2010, the conservative political strategist Karl Rove took to the Wall Street Journal and laid out a plan to win majorities in state legislatures across the country.

"He who controls redistricting can control Congress," read the subhead to Rove's column.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/07/19/gerrymandering-republicans-redmap

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The Book on "The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy"

https://www.amazon.com/Ratf-ked-Behind-Americas-Democracy/dp/1631491628?tag=hereandnowbooks-20

(2016)

The REDMAP plan, which its architects dubbed REDMAP for Redistricting Majority Project, hinged on the fact that states redraw their electoral maps every 10 years according to new Census data. REDMAP targeted states where just a few statehouse seats could shift the balance to Republican control in the crucial Census year of 2010.

That plan worked spectacularly. It's why today Republicans have a majority in nearly two-thirds of the country's state legislative chambers. And it's why in 2012 Democratic statehouse candidates won 51 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania, which voted for Barack Obama in the presidential election, yet those candidates ended up with only 28 percent of the seats in the legislature.

''As politics in the U.S. has polarized along geographic and racial lines, drawing political maps has become a partisan arms race. Even the smallest decisions about where to draw district boundaries can alter the power dynamic in Congress — without a single voter switching parties or moving.

''It’s easy for opponents of gerrymandering — the drawing of political boundaries for the benefit of one party or group over another — to argue what districts shouldn’t look like. All they have to do is ridicule the absurdity of the most bizarre patchworks ever woven to elect members of Congress. For example, “The Rabbit on a Skateboard,” “The Upside-Down Chinese Dragon” or the “Mask of Zorro.”

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Redistricting; Gerrymandering

The Gerrymandering Project

Courts & Law: Supreme Court to hear potentially landmark case on partisan gerrymandering

“The threat of partisan gerrymandering isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue; it’s an issue for all American voters,” said Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal Center, and former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “Across the country, we’re witnessing legislators of both parties seizing power from voters in order to advance their purely partisan purposes. We’re confident that when the justices see how pervasive and damaging this practice has become, the Supreme Court will adopt a clear legal standard that will ensure our democracy functions as it should.”

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Gerrymandering, Gaming the System

● https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Redistricting

Via the Washington Post

Watch the Video

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Voters approve reform of Ohio's redistricting process

A Model for Other States?

The Columbus Dispatch • Wednesday November 4, 2015

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2015/election/ohio-state-issue-1-redistricting.html

Voters overwhelmingly backed a plan to reform Ohio’s hyper-partisan process for drawing legislative districts, and supporters are already looking ahead to passing the same reforms for congressional districts next year.

“Today's win was an important first step, but it only got us halfway there," said Carrie Davis, executive director of the League of Women Voters. “We need to take these new anti-gerrymandering rules that Issue 1 applied to the General Assembly and extend them to congressional districts, which are even more gerrymandered.”

Issue 1, which will change the legislative redistricting process starting in 2021, when the lines are scheduled to be drawn again, won with 71 percent of the vote, according to final, unofficial results.

“Ohio voters can do amazing things when they work together. Let’s work together to reform the congressional map,” said Sandy Theis, executive director of ProgressOhio.

The new process will attempt to curtail the partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts that critics say has led to too many non-competitive districts, artificially protects the majority party’s power, and creates a system where incumbents have more fear of being challenged from the far flanks of their parties, causing them to govern in a more partisan manner...

League of Women Voters / Redistricting Reform - http://lwv.org/search/content/redistricting

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Supreme Court of US Rules in support of constitutionality of Arizona state model of independent redistricting

Potential for State Initiatives and Ballot Law Reforms

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-1314_kjfl.pdf

In 2000, Arizona voters adopted Proposition 106, an initiative aimed at the problem of gerrymandering. Proposition 106 amended Arizona’s Constitution, removing redistricting authority from the Arizona Legislature and vesting it in an independent commission, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC). After the 2010 census, as after the 2000 census, the AIRC adopted redistricting maps for congressional as well as state legislative districts. The Arizona Legislature challenged the map the Commission adopted in 2012 for congressional districts, arguing that the AIRC and its map violated the “Elections Clause” of the U. S. Constitution, which provides: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.” Because “Legislature” means the State’s representative assembly, the Arizona Legislature contended, the Clause precludes resort to an independent commission, created by initiative, to accomplish redistricting. A three-judge District Court held that the Arizona Legislature had standing to sue, but rejected its complaint on the merits.

Held:

997 F. Supp. 2d 1047, affirmed.

GINSBURG, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which KENNEDY, BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. ROBERTS, C. J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, THOMAS, and ALITO, JJ., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which THOMAS, J., joined. THOMAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

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http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/29/418521823/supreme-court-backs-arizonas-redistricting-commission-targeting-gridlock

Supreme Court Backs Arizona's Redistricting Commission

JUNE 29, 201510:47 AM ET

BILL CHAPPELL

U.S. states' efforts to counter extreme gerrymandering won a victory Monday, as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a bipartisan Arizona panel that draws the state's districts. The court's vote was 5-4; Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, as did Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion for the majority, in which her citations included James Madison writing in The Federalist Papers.

"The people of Arizona turned to the initiative to curb the practice of gerrymandering," Ginsburg wrote, "and, thereby, to ensure that Members of Congress would have 'an habitual recollection of their dependence on the people.' "

Ginsburg continued, quoting a 2005 gerrymandering case: "In so acting, Arizona voters sought to restore 'the core principle of republican government,' namely, 'that the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.' "

More re: Redistricting and Reapportionment

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/02/390245031/high-court-case-tests-independent-redistricting-commissions

In the age of computers, such political gerrymanders can result in state congressional maps that look like a madman's jigsaw puzzle. And even the U.S. Supreme Court has said that these gerrymanders can rig the process to deprive citizens of fair representation.

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http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-07-01/nationwide-implications-of-a-supreme-court-ruling-on-gerrymandering

Stuart Rothenberg editor and publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report; columnist, Roll Call Richard Hasen professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine; author of "The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown" Jan Baran head of the election law group at Wiley Rein LLP; former general counsel, Republican National Committee; author, "The Election Law Primer for Corporations." Colleen Mathis chair, Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2010 - present)

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SR: ... putting in the context of the larger discussion, most states, over 40 states, I believe it's 43 states, allow the legislature to draw often their own lines, but also congressional districts. And there has been a call, increasingly, around the country for non-partisan groups, non-legislatures to draw lines, to create districts that are more competitive not less competitive, that are less polarized in terms of partisan and ideology to presumably result in a more compromising cooperative Congress.

Rick Hasen, do you think a number of other states are going to follow Arizona's lead?