Republicans rigged the House through gerrymandering. Democrats can fight back at the ballot box.

[applegrove]

Republicans rigged the House through gerrymandering. Democrats can fight back at the ballot box.

by Stephen Wolf at the Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/29/1394141/-Republicans-rigged-the-House-through-gerrymandering-Democrats-can-fight-back-at-the-ballot-box

"SNIP.................


So what can progressives and democracy activists do to fight back against Republican efforts to rig the system? In the wake of the Supreme Court's new decision upholding the constitutionality of Arizona's independent redistricting commission, one strategy is clear: Reformers should try to institute similar changes in other states where voters can put initiatives on the ballot. Arizona and California both successfully voted for independent commission reforms that produced fair maps. There's no reason this can't happen elsewhere.

Ballot initiatives are an ideal tool for reform: They both sidestep self-interested legislators and they can appeal to reform-minded voters by avoiding any appearance of overt partisanship. And with the nation's districts already tilted sharply in favor of Republicans, Democrats need to use every tool available to eliminate that unfair advantage.

Fortunately, several key states permit the initiative process. When adequately funded and written so as to be easily understood by voters, ballot measures focused on redistricting reform have typically proven very popular and have passed by wide margins in both Arizona and California.

So what states are next on the list? Key targets include Michigan, Ohio, and Florida—three big states that send far more Republicans than Democrats to Congress even though Barack Obama won them all twice. Several others are amenable to reform as well: Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Utah. Were independent redistricting commissions to take hold in all of these states, Democrats could stand to gain anywhere from nine to 17 seats after the 2020 Census—just by having fair maps.



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[jaysunb]

1. Fighting back requires voter education.

Stop wasting time, money and energy acting like victims. Call it out, loud and clear.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Yes it is all about voter education and

people made to understand how they got screwed by not paying attention.

[Snobblevitch]

3. We have little Gerymandering in Minnesota.

The district boundaries are always settled by the courts. The last time I recall there being an interesting redistricting situation was when Democrats attempted to put two Republicans into the same district but did not realize one of them lived 1/2 mile north into a different district.

[calimary]

4. Dems are FINALLY waking up about it.

http://dlcc.org/news/dlcc-launches-advantage-2020-key-success-next-round-redistricting-70-million-plus-effort

What the hell took 'em so long???

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. If the South couldn't gerrymander it would be OVER for Republicans there.

[former9thward]

6. Before the AZ redistricting commission

it was 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans. It is now 5 Republicans and 4 Democrats. So much for anti-gerrymandering.