WP: Computer Programmer Solved Gerrymandering

[Aledinho]

Both of your suggestions are pie in the sky and will never happen.

And as long as we keep the EC, a state with a brain has zero incentive to limit its clout by splitting its EVs.

Now you know why you won't be receiving a Valentine's card from Maine and Nebraska.

 

[Tidewater]

Thats kind of my point. Gerrymandering is much more about the House.

Maybe. Take a look at Maryland's (or North Carolina's, etc.) congressional district maps before the foundation of the Justice Department and after.

 

[Tidewater]

You are generally correct at least with respect to the federal government.

A significantly less active federal government would be more impactful on reducing partisanship and extremism rather than implementing yet another version of gerrymandering.

Both parties (to varying degrees and at different times) have fought tooth and nail to centralize power in Washington, then, having dumped a giant pile of poo on the banks of the Potomac, stand back and say, "Hey, where'd these flies come from?"

 

[Bamaro]

What is the point of districting in your opinion?

The only purpose should be to have similar population numbers in each. That is what a computer program could easily deliver.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Until you remove the politicians gerrymandering will always be an issue.No mere computer program can solve that aspect.

 

[Tidewater]

Until you remove the politicians gerrymandering will always be an issue.No mere computer program can solve that aspect.

Here's what I found more than a little ironic about gerrymandering.
The Justice Department decided that only a black person can represent a black person's interests, so they approved districts that lump lots of black people together (including at one point a district that included only one lane of Interstate 85 in North Carolina) so they could get a black-majority district so black people could be represented.
Two problems.
1. With a big hunk of black Virginians in the Va 3rd District, black voters elsewhere in the state lost a lot of political clout. Democrats knew they had them and Republicans knew they could not get them, so neither tried wooing black voters.
2. I lived in the Va 3rd while Bobby Scott was carrying Bill Clinton's water in the House. If only a Rep. of the same color as the voter can represent that voter, who was my representative? Justice's answer: virtual representation: other white Representatives were representing my interests in Congress while I was living in the Va. 3rd. The colonies fought a war against the idea of virtual representation in Parliament, because the idea is ridiculous.

Race-based gerrymandering. An anti-American idea that politically marginalizes black people. Brought to you by the Justice Department. Way to go fellas.

 

[day-day]

Until you remove the politicians gerrymandering will always be an issue.No mere computer program can solve that aspect.

As long as the politicians don't have access to the code wouldn't the computer program eliminate gerrymandering by definition?

 

[NationalTitles18]

As long as the politicians don't have access to the code wouldn't the computer program eliminate gerrymandering by definition?

This isn't Obamacare - they aren't going to wait to pass it to see what's in it. The state legislatures won't be playing that game.

 

[Tide1986]

The only purpose should be to have similar population numbers in each. That is what a computer program could easily deliver.

Representatives shouldn't be representative? Nevertheless, even a computer will produce gerrymandering, especiallly if the districting process has any basis in geography.

 

[Bamaro]

Representatives shouldn't be representative? Nevertheless, even a computer will produce gerrymandering, especiallly if the districting process has any basis in geography.

Nope. Just look at the NC example.

 

[Tide1986]

Nope. Just look at the NC example.

Polygons = no gerrymandering? Gotcha.

 

[chanson78]

Representatives shouldn't be representative? Nevertheless, even a computer will produce gerrymandering, especiallly if the districting process has any basis in geography.

How is any elected official, that is elected by the constituents of a district, not representative of their beliefs? Isn't that one of the core principles of democracy? The majority of votes selects the winner? If someone is running in a district and its half black, half white, you aren't going to get a win by David Dukes or a win by Al Sharpton. Anyone that wins the district will have to moderate their beliefs so that they get the majority of votes, at which point, they will be represent the wishes of the majority of voters in that district.

So I guess I am at a loss here for your argument. Are you trying to say that a district's representative should represent something greater than just 51%? Is there some threshold that you expect? 70%? 80%? 90%? Because thats all gerrymandering does. It increases the percentage of shared views amongst constituents for a given district represented by that representative.

 

[bama_wayne1]

How is any elected official, that is elected by the constituents of a district, not representative of their beliefs? Isn't that one of the core principles of democracy? The majority of votes selects the winner? If someone is running in a district and its half black, half white, you aren't going to get a win by David Dukes or a win by Al Sharpton. Anyone that wins the district will have to moderate their beliefs so that they get the majority of votes, at which point, they will be represent the wishes of the majority of voters in that district.

So I guess I am at a loss here for your argument. Are you trying to say that a district's representative should represent something greater than just 51%? Is there some threshold that you expect? 70%? 80%? 90%? Because thats all gerrymandering does. It increases the percentage of shared views amongst constituents for a given district represented by that representative.

Sometimes they just modify there rhetoric. (like every politician in my lifetime(but I'm not even 60 yet))

 

[Tidewater]

Polygons = no gerrymandering? Gotcha.

I think this is what he meant.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Now you know why you won't be receiving a Valentine's card from Maine and Nebraska.

You're right, I didn't...

 

[Bamaro]

Polygons = no gerrymandering? Gotcha.

What else would it be?:conf3: