How Ridiculous Gerrymanders Saved the House Republican Majority

[sasha031]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mitt Romney made a late play for Pennsylvania. Super PACs dive-bombed the state with ads; the candidate made two stops to the state in the last 48 hours of the race. Despite that, the president carried the state by 5 points, similiar to the margin Al Gore won by in 2000. And despite that, this was what happened in Pennsylvania's House races.


Maybe you can't tell, but this map, with Republican-held seats in red and Democratic seats in blue, shows the president's party with five of Pennsylvania's 13 House seats. Democrats have been packed into three uncompetitive seats around Philadelphia, an uncompetitive seat in the Lehigh Valley, and a safe seat in Pittsburgh. The state's suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas have been rigged to be just outside the range where Democrats might win them.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/11/07/how_ridiculous_gerrymanders_saved_the_house_republican_majority.html

[Bjorn Against]

1. Those boundaries are ridiculous and undemocratic

People need to take to the streets to demand a nonpartisan redistricting process, allowing one party to choose who votes for them is an insult to democracy.

[Earth_First]

2. This happened to Kathy Hochul in NY 27 last year.

She narrowly won the special election for the vacated seat, after which the district was immediately redrawn the following year to boost GOP enrollment by nearly 10K registered Republican voters.

Hochul lost her reelection bid last night.

[gkhouston]

3. We need to completely overhaul the voting system, including how districts are drawn. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Yes, we do.

[RussBLib]

5. This is why so few seats changed hands in the House

The gerrymandering has been extreme and absurd, tilted so that one party has a massive advantage in voters and gets easily re-elected. You obviously can't do that in the Senate, where the Senator represents the entire state.

Eliminating all of the garrymandering and created logical districts (how about nothing but squares and rectangles?) would go a long way towards restoring our democracy and keeping a fresh supply of representatives.

RussBLib

[enough]

6. I would like to add my own district (PA-06)

Which was absurdly gerrymandered a few years ago.


For an image:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_House_of_Representatives,_Pennsylvania_District_6_map.png

[zbdent]

7. It wasn't that long ago that I heard a Repug saying that

the districts should be drawn equally; like straight lines ...

[Jack Sprat]

8. How they manage it.

Repubs have been successful winning state-level elections that allow them redraw districts. States like Wisconsin and Missouri turned their legislatures Red yesterday. We need to organize more at the local level and regain the ground we have ceded to Repubs in local elections. The DNC has to understand that national elections are affected by state legislatures. We need young vibrant candidates running for state offices.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

9. This is what happens when you don't vote in off-year elections

Especially ones that follow a census.

[sasha031]

10. How do we educate the masses,

so they understand there is no representation in the States?
People always blame the Beltway, but it starts in the districts.