Candycorn's Idea for Getting Rid of Gerrymandering

[candycorn]

Its important to understand that gerrymandering takes on a few different meanings. The legislature within a state has it's own districts as does state senators. What I'm talking about is congressional gerrymandering.

First take a state. For the ease of math lets say the state has 12 electoral votes; that means it has 10 districts.

Then you take the census data and determine the income by zip codes within that state. Divide the data into 10 groups (If there are 20 congressional districts, divide the zip codes into 20 groups, 43 districts..43 groups. Anyway back to our example.) Group A has the highest income zip codes, Group J has the lowest income zip codes. Then, at random, assign one Group A zip code to the 1st district, one Group A zip code to the 2nd district, one Group A zip code to the 3rd district etc... until they are all gone. Then start again with the Group B, Group C, etc... Keep doing so until all of the zip codes are assigned to the ten districts. You'll end up with 10 districts that have roughly the same population. What you don't end up is districts carved out to favor any political party or ethnicity.

Effective politicians will be able to shine in these cases. Not so effective politicians will have a much harder time since they aren't guaranteed a friendly electorate.

 

[OKTexas]

And the first thing that will happen, is the lower income groups that are blended with the upper and middle income groups, will scream discrimination because their votes are being diluted.

.

 

[FireFly]

Yes CandyCorns plan will create a less radical congress, because all political gerrymandering does is create opposing groups with more extreme points of view.

It cant really do much to change the number of reps each party elects.

 

[candycorn]

And the first thing that will happen, is the lower income groups that are blended with the upper and middle income groups, will scream discrimination because their votes are being diluted.

.

Or vice versa.

 

[candycorn]

Yes CandyCorns plan will create a less radical congress, because all political gerrymandering does is create opposing groups with more extreme points of view.

It cant really do much to change the number of reps each party elects.

Well what it does do is prevent lines from being drawn as to where one side of the street is in one district and the other side is in another district to ensure a seat stays blue or red. The lines are drawn by the USPS based on just population numbers without consideration as to political outcomes. Thats all.

Whether the persons elected are more radical or not is up to the candidates. In some ways I think you'd get a more radical elected body since. Right now, you have groupthink that sort of decants the more "flavorful" candidates in favor of someone who matches the values of the electorate. Without those values being codified because a district may have rural, urban, coastal, agricultural, educated and uneducated constituents, you could end up seeing the guy who sets his hair on fire get the most votes. You'll see alot more runoffs for damn sure.

 

[OKTexas]

Or vice versa.

Either way, it will be claimed to be racially motivated and tied up in the courts. A second major hurdle would be getting it through 50 State legislatures and signed off by 50 governors. Or a constitutional amendment so the feds could dictate it, which will never happen.

.

 

[candycorn]

Either way, it will be claimed to be racially motivated and tied up in the courts.

Maybe.

A second major hurdle would be getting it through 50 State legislatures and signed off by 50 governors.

Would never happen.

Or a constitutional amendment so the feds could dictate it, which will never happen.

.

Never’s a long time....I think at some point We the People will realize that the presidency has gotten too powerful.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Candycorn has ideas?

I had never considered such a possibility.

 

[OKTexas]

Maybe.

Would never happen.

Never’s a long time....I think at some point We the People will realize that the presidency has gotten too powerful.

For the same reason you said it would never get through all the State legislatures, an amendment will never happen, who ratifies amendments? Can you say, State legislatures? It only takes 13 to stop an amendment.

.

 

[candycorn]

For the same reason you said it would never get through all the State legislatures, an amendment will never happen, who ratifies amendments? Can you say, State legislatures? It only takes 13 to stop an amendment.

.

It’s all very unlikely