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Results: Gerrymandering

Published on 10/19/2021
By: scouthoward
2296
Politics
"With the use of sophisticated computer software, state legislatures (which are authorized to set electoral district boundaries every ten years) are now far more able to determine the outcomes in local, state, and national races before a single vote is cast. Gerrymanderers use two methods. "Cracking" splits voters with certain racial, ethnic, socio-economic characteristics into multiple, often oddly shaped, districts to dilute their electoral power. "Packing" jams specified groups into as few districts as possible, so that while they can elect a small number of preferred candidates, their political impact is weakened everywhere else." Glenn C. Altschuler, The Hill
1.
1.
"In the blue state of Pennsylvania, for example, gerrymandering has given Republicans a virtual lock on 13 of the 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Wisconsin, Democrats won a majority of votes statewide in 2018, but captured only 36 of 99 seats in the state assembly. Until 2019, when a state appeals court decreed that partisan redistricting violated the constitution, North Carolina's congressional delegation consisted of 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats, even though the Democrats won almost 50 percent of the statewide vote. Overall, gerrymandering has given Republicans in each election cycle a net gain of 16 or 17 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives." Is this fair?
Yes
15%
326 votes
No
42%
926 votes
Not Applicable
43%
948 votes
2.
2.
"This year the gerrymandering beat goes on. In September, the Texas state senate began drawing new electoral maps. The senate now has 13 Democrats and 18 Republicans. The boundaries of the two districts represented by GOP state senators which narrowly supported Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential are now likely to provide them with comfortable majorities. Although African Americans and Latinos concentrated in urban and suburban areas account for almost 95 percent of the population growth in Texas during the last decade, the Republican Senate is poised to increase the number of districts that delivered majorities for Donald Trump from 16 to 19. The Texas legislature then will turn to the state's Congressional districts." Is this fair?
Yes
16%
350 votes
No
40%
881 votes
Not Applicable
44%
969 votes
3.
3.
"With supermajorities in the New York State assembly and senate, Democrats seem determined to reduce the impact of gerrymandering in the Republican states by setting boundaries that will oust as many as five New York GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives. A likely target is first-term Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose seat is anchored in Staten Island, but whose district in 2022 may include liberal neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Democrats could also force incumbent Republicans Rep. Claudia Tenney and Rep. Elise Stefanik, a rising star who replaced Liz Cheney (R-Colo.) as the GOP's top-ranking Republican woman in the House, into the same congressional district." Is this fair?
Yes
15%
337 votes
No
37%
820 votes
Not Applicable
47%
1043 votes
4.
4.
"Supreme Court justices appointed by Republican presidents have emerged as gerrymandering enablers-in-chief. In a 5-4 vote in the landmark case of Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which had prohibited southern states with a history of voter suppression from implementing changes affecting elections unless they received notification from the U.S. Attorney General or the D.C. U.S. District Court that the proposed policy did not discriminate against "protected minorities." In every decade between 1965 and 2013, it's worth noting, Texas was admonished for attempting to violate Section 5." Do you agree with the Supreme Court's decision?
Yes
20%
441 votes
No
30%
665 votes
Not Applicable
50%
1094 votes
5.
5.
"While the Supreme Court has declined to check gerrymandering, U.S. Senate Republicans have given gerrymanderers a free pass by filibustering the For The People Act, passed by the House and which bars use of gerrymandering in congressional districts and enhances the ability of voters to mount court challenges. The Senate, which exempted Supreme Court nominees from the filibuster, ought to remove it as well for voting rights issues, which, after all, are the foundation of our increasingly fragile democracy." Do you think that there should be federal standards for gerrymandering that put a stop to both Democrat and Republican gerrymandering?
Yes
38%
834 votes
No
16%
341 votes
Not Applicable
47%
1025 votes
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