Category: Gerrymandering

Supreme Court will not decide on gerrymandering

This is a setback to fair elections for 2018 and 2020.  The Supreme Court understandably does not want to get into politics but they are letting unfair maps stand.

However, states can do things on their own:

The Texas case is different – based on race, not party affiliation.

Don’t forget what Trump wants to do to the 2020 Census:

 

What will the Supreme Court rule on gerrymandering?

This analysis reviews the possible outcomes of Supreme Court rulings on gerrymandering.

After discussing the options, it concludes:

“No matter how the court rules, here’s what we know already: People are increasingly paying attention to how districts are drawn, and they aren’t happy about it. If the court does strike down extreme partisan gerrymandering, the legal battles could continue for years. If the court sides with the gerrymandering states, opponents will try to change things outside the Supreme Court.”

The ACLU sued to replace Ohio’s gerrymandered map

 

“What’s wrong with the Democratic Party and how do we fix it?”

Crooked.com is looking for answers to those questions.

I sent them this in an email:

Here are my thoughts which are too long to leave on a voice message

  • Focus on issues

Anti-Trump is not a winning message.  We saw that in 2016.  People knew he wasn’t qualified but voted for him anyway.  Why?  Because of issues such as abortion.

I’m sure you have polls that show what voters are interested in such as health care, jobs, gun safety, income inequality, bigotry, the environment, etc.  Focus on what voters are interested in.  Don’t focus on Russia and Stormy Daniels.  That doesn’t affect everyday living.

  • Have a central online location for donations and information about issues

I’m tired of getting email, paper mail and requests for contributions from so many overlapping groups.  I disregard a lot of it because I get so much.  I suggest having a central clearing house similar to the Combined Federal Campaign for federal employee charitable donations.  Within the one site, you could designate which component(s) you want to send funds to.  ActBlue seems like a start.

  • Try to use TV appearances to focus on issues.

Most times when I see Democrats on TV, they are being asked about what they think of the day’s Trump tweets or action.  They need to respond to that but that also need to show how Democratic positions would be different than cutting health care and taxes for the wealthy.

  • Trump is already running for 2020. Democrats deserve equal time.

When he gives a speech that is part or all an election speech (which is most of them), Democrats should ask for equal time from TV networks comparable to the time they showed Trump focusing on politics rather than presidential stuff.  He has a huge head start in getting his message out.  Democrats should designate a few people to give the responses.  (I’m thinking of something like shorter versions of the response to the State of the Union address.)  Trump is brilliant at sucking up all of the TV time – Democrats need to fight this.

  • Do not focus on impeachment (as things stand now).

I think that will only motivate the Republicans and it will fail in the long run.   Concentrate on supporting the Mueller investigation and we’ll see how it plays out.

  • Let’s make the elections fair.

Do focus on getting out the vote, fighting voter suppression and fighting gerrymandering.

  • Be wary of how Republicans may respond if they lose the House of Representatives.

Trump is already talking about voter fraud, especially in CA.  Remember that he said the election was rigged and only committed to accepting the results if he won.  The Republicans will never voluntarily accept the new map in PA.  Make sure to point out that it was a victory for fairness, not for Democrats.

This is the scenario that concerns me:

Imagine if the Democrats win the House by 2 or 3 and  pick up 4 or 5 seats in PA and/or CA.  Do you really think Trump and his conspiracy theory-supporting followers will accept the results?  Remember, many of these people believe in things like Pizzagate, the birther movement, and that mass shootings didn’t happen.  Do you think it would be hard to convince them that there was voter fraud.

Thanks for letting me rant.

update:  This looks like a good start.

 

Maryland gerrymandering

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Maryland gerrymandering case.  The issue is the 6th congressional district which was converted from a Republican one to a Democratic district.

This article describes how Democrats did congressional redistricting in Maryland in 2011 and avoided open meetings.  

The article notes:

“In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one, Maryland’s Democratic mapmakers have turned an eight-member House delegation that was split evenly between the parties in 2000 into one that now has seven Democrats and one Republican.”

Democrats may actually benefit from losing the case because it could be applied to other states.  Both parties have done gerrymandering but Republicans have done much more of it since they control more state governments.

Some Pennsylvania Republicans want to impeach the judges over the new congressional map

It’s clear Republicans won’t accept the new map and want to impeach Democratic judges.  Even the state Republican Justice is opposed to the impeachments.

Do you really think Republicans will accept the results of the 2018 Congressional elections in Pennsylvania?  I don’t since they don’t accept the map.  Sad!

Update:

Now they want to change how the judges are elected.  The Republicans won’t accept a fair map!