Tonight is the night that partisan gerrymandering died in Virginia.
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If Democrats were to win unified control of the legislature by 2020 (which would be necessary for unchecked D gerrymandering) I’d happily support creating an independent redistricting commission — if the GOP cared to call for one.
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Not true. It’s possible to draw districts that represent communities of interest without minimizing voters by party. See the famous “earmuffs” district in Chicago.
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Seems to me you’re conflating nonpartisan maps with compact maps. Two separate things, and I agree compactness shouldn’t be the only or most important consideration.
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And I think there’s plenty of room for states to decide for themselves what those communities are and still adhere to a broad rule of “don’t pack and crack by race” and “don’t pack and crack by party”.
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Again: there’s a difference between drawing a district to give a Black neighborhood a legislator, and cramming a bunch of unrelated Black areas together so they all can only vote on one person.
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You really don’t see a difference between a district drawn to center on a single mostly-Black city, and a district that joins together 2 Black neighborhoods in 2 cities 100 miles apart so that the rest of both cities are lumped with mostly white electorates?
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Federal courts have generally found a pretty clear difference between those two scenarios. And held the latter is illegal.
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Sure, but they would be elected in either scenario. The point is, Republicans have deliberately WASTED votes for them. Given them districts with 60-point margins vs 20-point margins.
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Or to use a partisan rather than a racial example: my own would still easily be elected in a non-gerrymandered district situated wholly in Austin.
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