Gerrymandering Thread

Yes, although it wasn’t really on the merits, but rather that the plaintiffs had not established standing. They are leaving it open so that they can in fact actually do that.

We’ve got a ballot measure to amend our state constitution here in Michigan coming up this fall that would set up an independent redistricting commission. That is, if the courts don’t kill it.

Pretty decent summary in that article. Should know soon what the state supreme court says about it.

I’m going to be furious if this isn’t on the ballot in it’s current form.

This is so much better a red/blue map than you typically see. It really highlights the population effect on politics. The red places are basically empty. Most urban centers of any size are blue.

Freakin NH.

image

(Not empty alas.)

Ouch.

Shouldn’t be too hard to pipe that input into the upcoming deadly traps algorithms.

Hey, I was just down the block from you a couple weeks ago! My youngest son had a soccer ID camp at UNH. I spent some time walking around Portsmouth and watching soccer in Durham including the World Cup final on the big screen at the stadium. I have a brother in Goffstown that I stayed with. I love going up there to visit. My son is interested in Marine Biology/Wildlife Conservation. Looking at UNH and UNE up that way. Anyway, imagine the civil war that would occur between your red block and the city of Portsmouth! Hoo boy!

Slight difference between where we live now and where we plan on moving mid-next year!


Yeah, welcome to the rest of the country. I’m in a medium dark blue precinct that sits adjacent to two light red ones. Unsurprisingly I am just outside the Reading city limits while the others… are not. That said, they were both within a hundred votes or so of going the other way. To me, that just means all the Russian Facebook shit worked.

I’d have to be an insurgent, though I don’t know how well sarcasm would work against guns. :/ FWIW (not much) the 2016 margins here were extremely close, and NH will swing blue the other way in 2018. We always do (go from on extreme to the other. Not that we don’t have MAGAs driving around with their SUV’s and giant American flags. Both my SO and I just reflexively think ‘dumb ass’ when we see, well, any American flag now.)

Portsmouth is great for a small city but expensive (I guess in other parts of the country it would be a town.) Dover has become the ‘it’ place of late - fairly vibrant downtown (there’s even a restaurant whose owner won a Chopped competition), slightly ‘cheaper’ real estate, easy commute to UNH and mass transit down to Boston. UNH is very good for marine biology even though NH has a teeny tiny coastline (I had a summer job years ago working with UNH wildlife management grad students, best summer job I every had.)

I don’t envy you if you need to pay out-of-state tuition for him though, that’s an ouchie. As an aside, (and you’re probably well aware) extremely tough breaking into marine/wildlife biology. There are some really good AMA’s on Reddit from biologists that would behoove your son to track down, great advice given for career tracks and how to find gainful employment.

Wow you’re in for a culture shock.

Where I was during the 2016 election:

Where I was during the inauguration:

Where I am now:

It’d be truly amazing and optimistic if all three screens were the same place but at the mentioned times.

Good news, the MI Supreme Court has ruled to allow the proposal to stay on the ballot.

Just barely, 4-3 decision. But that’s enough! It’ll be a real shocker if it doesn’t pass in November…just about every poll shows huge support for the proposal.

Kind of odd phrasing, isn’t it? “Do not ‘significantly alter or abolish the form or structure of our government’”.

I mean, isn’t a change to a constitution kind of changing the form/structure of the government by definition?

Yeah, but they missed the end of the sentence in making their blurb:

…if they do not “significantly alter or abolish the form or structure of our government, making it tantamount to creating a new constitution.

So an amendment? Apparently doable. Rewriting the thing whole cloth? Not so much.

NC map ruled unconstitutional due to partisan gerrymandering. May need to be redrawn prior to midterms and since this is the third time it’s come back from the legislature and been found unconstitutional, the judges don’t want the legislature to be the ones to redraw it. Could be a number of possible dem pickups if it goes through prior to midterms.

It’ll get expedited to the Supreme Court. With 8 justices the lower court ruling will stand. IOW, this is possibly very good news.

The ads for the anti-gerrymandering proposal 2 here in Michigan are in full swing.

Yep, that’s Arnold…#TerminateGerrymandering.

I’m all for Prop 2 and glad people support it, but nonetheless you have to chuckle a bit at the Governator coming in to stump for it.