Commentary Suggests that Gerrymandering in the United States is On the Way Out

Joshua Spivak has this commentary on AOL News, suggesting that gerrymandering in the United States is likely to diminish substantially in the near future.  He mentions the strong votes by Florida and California voters against gerrymandering.  Of course, slightly over half the states do not have the initiative process, and the commentary does not discuss the difficulties of getting districting reform in states without the initiative process.


Comments

Commentary Suggests that Gerrymandering in the United States is On the Way Out — 5 Comments

  1. Heaven help math MORONS — even on AOL News.

    Half the votes in half the gerrymander districts = about 25 percent indirect minority rule — whoever or whatever is making the gerrymander district lines.

    REAL minority rule is about 30-31 percent since the average gerrymander district winner gets about 60-62 percent.

    Much worse party hack primary math.

    Much worse in the gerrymander U.S.A. Senate.

    P.R. and App.V. — regardless of ALL math morons on Mother Earth, past, present and future.

  2. Gerrymandering–intentional or not–will always exist so long as there are single-seat districts or multi-member plurality (or other bloc system) is used. While software programs may diminish the influence of gerrymandering, it won’t eliminate the problem.

    You want to get rid of gerrymandering? Use a PR system that includes more than four seats where candidates are elected simultaneously. This creates a lower threshold so candidates representing minority views aren’t entirely shut out. Let them try gerrymandering that.

  3. In New York, I think the mixed-member proportional system(more or less as the Germans do it) is realistic and we have a strategy for getting it, even though New York isn’t an initiative state. Every twenty years New Yorkers vote on whether to hold a state constitutional convention (the next automatic referendum year is 2017). The legislature can vote to hold such a referendum in any session and last year a campaign was begun in earnest to force them to do just that. With the continuing personal and political scandals and the continuing economic crisis, and the legislature’s unwillingness and inability to do anything about any of it, the calls will only grow louder to allow others to fix what they’ve broken.

  4. Total Votes / Total Seats = EQUAL votes needed for each seat winner — via pre-election candidate rank order lists to transfer excess winner votes down and loser votes up.

    Too difficult for the party hack SCOTUS math morons to understand ???

  5. Will the folks in the Democracy initiative States have to liberate the political prisoners in the gerrymander concentration camps in the non-initiative States ??? — the very hard way — as in liberating the slaves by the Union Army and Navy in 1861-1865 in the slave States — think Grant east and Sherman west.

    Stay tuned.

    The WAR for REAL Democracy continues — on many fronts 24/7.

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