This gerrymandering HAS GOT TO STOP! ( The 20 Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts)

[AAO]

Last edited Fri Nov 16, 2012, 11:58 AM - Edit history (2)

http://www.slate.com/slideshows/news_and_politics/the-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts.html

(CAVEAT: This map is over almost a year old - it may or may not have changed! )

[onehandle]

1. It's going to be hard to undo. 2008 voters who did not vote in 2010 really screwed us.

The President was Begging his voters to return to the polls.

Nope.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. Perhaps he should have considered the consequences of alienating a big part of

his base before bowing down before Wall Street and the corporatocracy.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

7. Perhaps his base should have considered the consequences of republican legislatures and governors

given control of the redistricting that happens after every census. The struggle to return the House to Democratic control will be long, hard and expensive.

[bluestate10]

15. You are not going to convince the "Nader did not cost Florida 2000" crowd of the folly

of voting stupid or not voting. Their "principles" lead them to do stuff that it takes a fucking decade or more to clean up. We are still cleaning up after Florida 2000, 12 fucking years later.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

18. Right idea, wrong year....

The mess we are still trying to clean up was created in 1998, an off-year election that ushered Jeb Bush into the FL State House...just in time for the census of 2000 and then the manipulation of the 2000 presidential election. I am haunted by a news clip of an interview with GWB just prior to the election, he was on a plane and was asked about FL...he said, I am not worried about FL, Jeb is taking care of FL.
Voter rolls purged, polling places moved without prior notice, closed without prior notice and no notification as where the voters could go...
the hanging chads crap was just a smoke screen cover for the real voter suppression that went on quietly and behind the scenes. Meanwhile, everything was redistricted in the state, including state legislative districts....Jeb was the first Republican governor to EVER win a second term in FL...now look....2 terms for him, then Crist and now Scott....

I have no respect for anyone who sits out an election...in fact I rather despise them.

[Egalitarian Thug]

38. You can't dictate to the voters, that's why it is incumbent on the Party to attract them.

They are going to do whatever they are determined to do, and the reaction of 2010 was perfectly predicted.

The Party and the President are solely to blame for 2010, no matter how much it upsets DU. Just like this election was perfectly predicted when the republicans put forth their clown car of candidates in the primaries. This isn't rocket science, one of my very first posts here accurately predicted this year's outcome.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

45. No, irresponsible and lazy voters who don't turn out to vote are bear to blame....

Voting is mandatory in Australia, they also have a $15.51 an hour minimum wage...Gee, I wonder if there is any correlation. 2-year-olds think they should get everything they want, when they want it. Voting is a right and like every other right it carries a responsibility...frankly, if someone is too irresponsible to vote in one election, perhaps they shouldn't be eligible to vote in the next. This recession would be almost a thing of the past if prima donnas hadn't skipped the election of 2010....

[Egalitarian Thug]

47. I don't disagree, but you left out other very important differences. They have a representative form

of government chief among them. If you want to vote for the Communist, there are Communist candidates at every level to vote for, if you want to vote for Labour you can do that as well, or Conservative, or Socialist, or Green, or...

The result, and primary reason we don't get those choices, is that the political system is forced to respond to the voters, and that's why they get a better standard of living and more stable society (and why Rupert Murdoch left). And Australia is one of the more conservative countries.

But we have what we have and blaming the voters, right or wrong, isn't going to change that.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

49. I just become so frustrated ...

We have a "representative" form of government as well...and if more people participated we would have more choices. I'm less interested in blame than in waking them up.

Have you listened to the 1981 Atwater tape yet? He talks about how you can't use the word N - - - - - anymore so they have to use things liked "forced busing" and then says something far more insidious....He talks about how the republicans push tax cuts which hurt Blacks more than whites....

[Egalitarian Thug]

51. I share your frustration, but we do not have a representative government.

I can personally attest to that.

I have never, not even for one day in the last 50 years, been represented by my government. I have always had a choice between authoritarian pro-business candidate #1 and even more authoritarian pro-business candidate #2. Gore Vidal is just one of the hundreds of thinkers that have pointed out the indisputable fact that America has one political party with two right wings. There have been a few liberals that found their way into office from time to time, but I've never been lucky enough to be one of their constituents.

From the perspective of tens of millions of Americans, we have, and have never had any voice in our own nation.

Even if every single eligible citizen voted in every single election, we would still not have any say in how our nation is run because the game is rigged. Only two players are allowed to play and both players are paid by the same owner. American politics is the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals but the teams swap uniforms every few years.

[Liberalynn]

55. Well said

[Egalitarian Thug]

52. I share your frustration, but we do not have a representative government.

I can personally attest to that.

I have never, not even for one day in the last 50 years, been represented by my government. I have always had a choice between authoritarian pro-business candidate #1 and even more authoritarian pro-business candidate #2. Gore Vidal is just one of the hundreds of thinkers that have pointed out the indisputable fact that America has one political party with two right wings. There have been a few liberals that found their way into office from time to time, but I've never been lucky enough to be one of their constituents.

From the perspective of tens of millions of Americans, we have, and have never had any voice in our own nation.

Even if every single eligible citizen voted in every single election, we would still not have any say in how our nation is run because the game is rigged. Only two players are allowed to play and both players are paid by the same owner. American politics is the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals but the teams swap uniforms every few years.

[woo me with science]

54. [phone]

[Sekhmets Daughter]

74. That is a truly defeatist attitude,

something the politicians have been able to 'capitalize' on for years.

While it is undeniable that the Democratic Party has moved right since Nixon and his "southern strategy", there are still major differences in the two parties. I was thinking, just this morning, after listening to Bobby Jindal who is firing the first shots of his national campaign, that it we may be witnessing a real sea change as the republican party appears to be moving left....It will be fascinating to watch the base react.

Neither party has perfectly represented me, but I am not convinced that my views, needs and wants are the exact same as a majority of the nation. I am a fiscal conservative who believes in the need for a true social safety net. I believe that once we are past this recession, we need to raise taxes for everyone... right after we increase the minimum wage to a "living" wage. People get the government they deserve when they don't vote and don't want to pay for that government. I know that welfare was designed to keep poor people complacent and in their place and not to help them achieve productive independence. I know that one of the greatest failures of the Democratic Party is that they never really worked to make that a better system of support. Conversely, I also know that the last thing we need is more conservatives on the Supreme Court or the election of more politicians who would gleefully turn this country into a theocracy. So while the choice may be between a reddish purple and a bluish purple, I prefer the bluish.

As I've said before, the nation lives in the middle of the political spectrum. It is the responsibility of the "left" to keep the Democratic Party to the left of center. It is self-defeating to pack up one's teepee and go home....Only 62+ million of the 72 million registered Republicans turned out to vote or voted for Obama...Meanwhile Romney had 59+ million votes with just 55 million registered republicans nationwide....and just under 2 million cast their votes for a third candidate. We could have a Democratic House if more Dems had shown up. We would have a stronger voice in that House if we were as loud as the Tea Party has been.

[marions ghost]

66. And right now the exchange rate is about even

1 Australian dollar = 1.0343 US dollars

I lived in Australia for several years. The mandatory voting thing is great there! You get young people voting early (instead of waking up at age 40) & there is NONE of this registration and vote suppression nonsense. NONE. It's not oppressive--you can leave your ballot blank if you want. You just have to show up. The fine for non-compliance is not severe.

But then in Australia people still have the idea that govt works for the people, not only big corporations.

in Australia, no need for coercion, persuasion, calling people "irresponsible" and "prima donnas." Guilt-tripping is NOT a way to get people on your side.

[byeya]

27. "Fuck the UAW" Rahm E. was quoted as saying and no denial, no apology from the White

House.
And this attitude was backed up my kissing up to Wall St and ignoring labor. So why should a person who's been lead to believe one set of policies was in place not feel betrayed when he/she has been ignored?

I voted, always have since 1968 but I can't blame any progressive for not. No one likes being lied to.

And: Gore won Florida even with the few votes Nader got: Gore was robbed by the Supreme Court and his decision to surrender as soon as possible.

[treestar]

62. Perhaps you should have considered the consequences of

republican governments? LOL. The President is not the one who suffers.

And he got re-elected to boot.

God that attitude is so self defeating. Obama did not suffer one bit. Who did? You and the rest of us!

[Egalitarian Thug]

77. As usual, you completely miss the point, but kudos for another in your series of

reasons people don't like the Democratic party.

And BTW I voted, just as I have in every election except the one in the 90's when I was moving.

[treestar]

78. Then what party do they like?

Republican? That's what they got.

[hedgehog]

6. Generally, it's the state legislatures that determine the shape of the districts -

which is another reason off-year elections are so important. Here in Oswego County, the Republicans have even gerrymandered the districts for the county legislature!

[Bibliovore]

50. It's not necessarily quite that bad -- thanks to Texas R's, it doesn't have to take a decade

When Texas's Republicans redistricted in 2003, just two years after the post-census 2001 redistricting, it went to court, and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued an opinion saying states may redistrict as often as desired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Texas_redistricting#2006_Supreme_Court_review
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=05-204

In other words, unless it would violate a state-specific law or constitution, states don't have to wait until the next census to redistrict. (Thanks, Republicans....)

Personally, I would love to see a national law requiring districts to be drawn by computer to meet Voting Rights Act standards and be as compact as geography allows, using software whose source code is open for any and all to review. That'd nip gerrymandering in the (wildly overgrown) bud.

[Obamamite]

79. That's the truth. I'm proud to say that I voted. But both sides gerrymander.

It was catastrophic when we lost in 2010, because of the gerrymandering possibilities.

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[hedgehog]

4. Kick!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. PA's 7th Congressional District

just outside of Philly is a disgrace snaking through 6 counties and now is rethug Pat Meehan's district.



And in its earlier configuration, this was once rethug Curt Weldon's District then Sestak's and looked like this -



And ironically, I recall all the court cases about redistricting focused on the changes in the state legislative boundaries vs the Congressional boundaries.

[PotatoChip]

13. That is one bizarre-looking district.

It is amazing that they got away w/cutting it up like that.

[unc70]

21. Holder's DOJ was very approving

Way too approving, even in Southern states like NC. And the Fed courts are still heavily Republican.

[InsultComicDog]

19. I was gerrymandered into that district

If you look at the top picture, the right part looks kind of like a T-Rex. I live in the T-Rex's eye.

I was before the gerrymander in PA-13.

[Aerows]

73. I have to admit

I looked at that picture for over five minutes trying to figure out where the T-Rex looking part is. I'm just not seeing it , but it was entertaining to try.

[InsultComicDog]

82. the entire right side of the picture

the left side looks like the shape of New Jersey, sort of

[treestar]

63. That is a disgrace

How effin' obvious.

[MadrasT]

65. I was gerrymandered into that district, I used to be PA-6.

After I heard about the change I went looking for the map and my head exploded.

Insanity. This shit should not be legal.

[RobinA]

69. My Area Was 13th

since the beginning of time. Larry Couglin for about 100 years. Used to send out a newletter. Then we went into the 6th, now we are part of the 7th. I had a similar head exploding experience when I went in search of what district I was actually in. A disgrace, that district, but certainly Exhibit A for some political malfeasance somewhere. Funny in a sick comedy sort of way. A good parlor game is to count the broad demographics actually included. From the Main Line to the skin heads an hour north.

[InsultComicDog]

83. same here!

since I started voting I was in PA-13, that would be since 1976. Even when I moved from Cheltenham Twp to Upper Gwynedd Twp I remained in the district.

PA-13 is now a short walk down the street for me, less than 1/2 mile.

I was very surprised to wind up in PA-7.

[nc4bo]

8. Nasty.

If you can't win on issues, win by cheating the system.

[justice1]

9. Didn't California passes legislation to stop it?

[Johonny]

17. sort of

the evidence it "stopped" it is still open to time to see how the new system works.

[SoCalDem]

35. Worked for ME.. We ditched Bono finally

As far as I can tell she got a LOT more "less-than-white" people dumped into her new version & Boom she's gone ..Raul Ruiz is our new one

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83664.html

[Johonny]

36. didn't also have a big affect on the make up in Sacramento?

[SoCalDem]

37. Yes it did.. nt

[pinto]

30. California Citizens Redistricting Commission

http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/

[ananda]

10. TX congressional district 10 is a crime against Austin.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TX/10

http://maps.lcra.org/getPDF.aspx?ID=33&MapPath=Congressional%20District%2010.pdf

[smackd]

16. Yes! I live in north-central Austin, very urban, basically surrounded by 'hippy-town'...

and hundreds of thousands of like residents...and this is my district, with the right wing burbs and sticks between austin and west of houston, hundreds of square miles of affluent suburbs and rural communities...now tell me how it makes any sense??

[nc4bo]

11. Adding link to Moveon's "An End to Gerrymandering" NC petition - for more eyes!

Hope you don't mind AAO?. Perhaps we all need to raise hell about it?

http://signon.org/sign/an-end-to-gerrymandering?source=mo&id=57727-9316713-jdVtcRx

An End to Gerrymandering

By Michael Barrett (Contact)

To be delivered to: The North Carolina State House, The North Carolina State Senate, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama
Petition Statement
We, the undersigned, call for legislation that would put an end to the practice of allowing political parties to choose voting districts. This legislation shall require states to form a politically balanced citizen's electoral jury that would decide the boundaries of voting districts based solely on population numbers.
Petition Background

Voters should select their representatives, not the other way around. The two political parties have made a complete mess of our electoral process by corrupting it at its foundation. In an effort to make elections more about which side has the better ideas and to reduce the political divide in our country, I propose that the power to create voting districts be taken away from whatever partisan faction is in control and that voting districts be created by a "jury" of citizens tasked with creating political voting districts with only raw population data, no voter registration information, to work with.
There are currently 2,578 signatures

[marions ghost]

67. Not surprised this is coming out of NC

NC is an obvious victim of gerrymandering.

[Persondem]

12. If you would like to take action against gerrymandering ...

Go to Signon.org to this petition ... http://signon.org/sign/an-end-to-gerrymandering

Opposition to gerrymandering seems to be widespread. Over 1000 people have signed in the past 24 hours.

Please spread the word.

Thank you.

Mike

[athena]

25. Thanks for the link.

I just signed the petition. We are now very close to 3000 signatures.

Gerrymandering is especially dangerous with today's powerful computers. It is undemocratic to allow political parties to manipulate elections in this way. Both parties would benefit in the long run by putting an end to gerrymandering.

[Liberalynn]

29. I signed thanks

NY needs to adopt a non-partisan districting commission as well. Our districts got totally rigged by the PUKES and sadly our Democratic Governor did not challenge it as IMHO he should have.

[Blue4Texas]

43. Signed. Thank you!

[justice1]

53. Is this for North Carolina only?

[Persondem]

56. No, it just originated in NC

This petition will be presented to folks in DC as well as in Raleigh. If enough people in other states sign it, I hope that people will deliver those names to other state capitals. Could be quite an event.

[bluestate10]

14. Consequence of democratic voters sitting on their asses in 2010. It will take 9 more years

to change the effects of the 2010 election. Regardless of whether we are happy or not with a democratic administration, we must contest State and Local elections vigorously.

[DCKit]

20. They've got to be using computers.

The question is, are they specifically programming those computers to look for Republican advantage? I'll bet they are.

[Persondem]

24. Yes, they have consultants with computers who travel around

... rigging states' congressional districts to favor republicans. A story in the Atlantic tells all about about it ... http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-league-of/309084/

[w8liftinglady]

22. Like Mine (Texas 6th)

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/05/23/barton_files_lawsuit_over_lege.html/

[leftlibdem420]

23. I support the death penalty because of this...

We need away to eliminate people who unfairly manipulate the electoral process and the will of the people to obtain an unjust advantage. The responsible parties needed to be Nuremberged.

[Atman]

26. And who will vote to stop it?

I agree 100%. EVERY Congressional district should be redrawn based solely upon geography. But it ain't going to happen. Not as long as the rigged districts guarantee seats, for Dems or GOP.

[liberal N proud]

28. Agreed - Ohio had an issue on the ballot but it got defeated

it was voted down because no one understood the language on the ballot.

[madrchsod]

31. illinois democrats picked up a couple of seats

they also did`t run any candidate in one of the biggest districts.

[iandhr]

32. If we were in charge of the 2010 redistricting process you don't think we would gerrymander.

[regnaD kciN]

33. Actually, a lot of the districts in that list...

...are from California, Massachusetts, and Maryland; Democratic-controlled states where, presumably, the districts were drawn to benefit Democrats.

[synapticwave]

34. At what point does the phrase

"no taxation without representation" start to hold true? The idea that a single congressional representative can adequately represent the will of people in his/her district is basically dead given that the average district now has 1.5M people. Then, to add on gerrymandering to the idea of the what a district consists of is appalling. It's remarkable that we still even use the word "Representative" to describe the position.

[SoCalDem]

39. Computers (preferably CANADIAN) should just slap a grid on each state

depending on the population/rep count and let the chips fall where they may.

[XemaSab]

84. I think geographic divides and travel corridors should be taken into consideration

For example, a district with Fresno and Independence or a district with Crescent City and Yreka might look reasonable on paper but in practice they'd be madness.

Other than that, I totally agree.

[yardwork]

40. The maps in NC at that link are out of date. They've been re-gerrymandered by the Republicans

They were bad before, now they are ten times worse.

[Roland99]

41. FL voters passed a ballot measure a couple of years ago to end the insanity

but the Repuke-controlled state legislature decided to largely ignore it

Granted, we now have Alan Grayson back in the House but the districts still favor the GOP overwhelmingly.

[graham4anything]

42. Thank God third parties are history (as the repubs) and neither will ever be a force in America

one party(the Dems)=eternal happiness

and YES, more gerrymandering in 2020 with the Dems leading the way (and with 100% amnesty and citizenship, and Puerto Rico as the 51st. state)

[Earth_First]

44. NY-28 is such a joke...

Too bad all this gerrymandering along lakefront property owners, NW Buffalo and SW Rochester wasn't enough to unseat Louise Slaughter...

[KittyWampus]

60. Louise Slaughter is a wonderful Democrat!

[MiniMe]

46. Why link to a google search?

I would like to see what they say, but not that way.

[AAO]

80. Mistake - It's been corrected!

[AAO]

48. I corrected the link - I must have been busy (at work, multitasking, DU)...

I can't believe I blew the whole thread like that. I hope people will see this again, but probably not!

[hfojvt]

57. so 13 of the top 15 are Democratic districts?

and yet Democrats got more Congressional votes than Republicans and still Republicans control the House?

I am guessing that for each of those Democratic "most gerrymandered" districts that there are two Republican districts on either side which are just as gerrymandered - especially in states like Alabama and North Carolina.

[strategery blunder]

59. Cram all the Democratic voters into as few districts as possible

That's how all the "worst gerrymandered" districts can be Democratic, even in states like AL and NC.

To use an extreme numerical example: If you're an R state legislature, your state has ten seats in the House, and the voters of your state vote 60-40, why settle for a 6 R, 4 D distribution of seats that might happen with impartial redistricting, when you can cram all the Ds into one or two salamander districts and end up with an 8 R, 2 D or even 9 R, 1 D delegation?

And if there is any way, no matter how contrived, to limit the Ds to 1 seat, youbetcha the pukes would take it.

[JoeyT]

64. Yeah, I dunno about any of the others,

but my district (Alabama's 7th) is 61% African American and 72% urban. That's a hell of a trick in Alabama.

Matter of fact, if you look at the bottom left section of it, you'll notice the long tails sticking out. Those are heavily minority areas. It's why they included Wilcox (71% African American) and Marengo (52% African American) with Birmingham (62.5% African American), but didn't include all the smaller cities around Birmingham, which are predominately white. Birmingham alone shifting into the next district would knock a Republican out of congress. Tuscaloosa (College town) probably would too.

Basically if you can force everyone that might vote for your opponents into a single district, you can control all the rest of them.

Edited to add: So you can see how far off those numbers in that district are: Alabama as a whole is 26% African American.

[hfojvt]

68. but THAT is actually part of civil rights law

that it would be against civil rights law to change that district, which is "majority minority" into one which is less so.

The thinking is that this gives minority representation, that this gives the Alabama delegation one black representative, whereas if blacks were dispersed among all the other districts, Alabama's delegation would likely be all white.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority-minority_district

[hrmjustin]

58. Should be up to a non partisan panel of judges to draw the lines.

[JoeyT]

61. It's worth pointing out that

Alabama's 7th (My district) went 72% for Obama in 2008. That tells you all you need to know about why it looks like that.

[Shanti Mama]

70. Info from 2011, but 16 seats are held by Democrats! nt

[nc4bo]

71. It should just be fair, period.

No party should be able come in and move the chess pieces which ever way they want just because an opportunity can be taken, if that's happening - which it is in many places. How we'd actually come about having a fair playing field, I'm not sure and would leave it to those with the knowledge to sort it out, then we can be the final judge.

Probably really unpopular opinion but I want a fair, or as fair as it can be, playing field.

[Le Taz Hot]

72. HOLD ON!!!!

These are OLD MAPS. One of the districts on your link is CA-18. I checked the current map and it was re-drawn by a bi-partisan committee. Here's a link to the CURRENT map:

http://annaeshoo4congress.com/2012/californias-18th-district/

Please re-check your source maps and make sure they are current.

[KansDem]

75. I remember a couple of decades ago when Repubs bitched...

...about Dems' "gerrymandering." Apparently, it's okay if it benefits your party.

Here in Kansas, the Repubs were successful in splitting Wyandotte County and Lawrence (Douglas County), which were located (somewhat) in the same district: the Third District. Both areas are strong Blue (Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas). Splitting them put Lawrence entirely in the Second District.

Democrat Dennis Moore represented the Third District from 1998 to 2010 when he declined to run again due to health concerns. Now we have liar Kevin Yoder who ran in this election unopposed.

I don't know if Kansas will have a Dem district anytime soon, but this gerrymandering has assured the Repubs of four Red Congressional districts in Kansas, for the time being.

[mucifer]

76. We play that game here in IL . I live in one of the 20.

It's on both sides. We got a few seats because of it.

[Jersey Devil]

81. Gerrymandering put me in wingnut Scott Garrett's 5th NJ Cong District

I'm in Dumont, Bergen County, a mostly Democratic town a few miles west of NYC and was gerrymandered into a district of Republican farm country along the Deleware River represented by tea bagger Garrett, who, if you can believe it, voted against additional aid to NJ from the federal goverment for Sandy. Sometimes I want to scream.