Gerrymander Contest

public domain ^ | Jeff B.

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

Gerrymandering is the process of redrawing election districts in order to favor a certain political party. The name comes from Governor Eldbridge Gerry, who had the Massachusetts [state] senatorial districts redrawn to favor the Democratic-Republican party. The creature in this 1812 cartoon was drawn from one of the crazily-shaped new districts that resulted from Gerry's plan.

HERE'S THE CONTEST: Which state has the worst gerrymandered congressional district? To enter, post your vote here with a pic. We'll let the Honorable Mr. Robinson judge the competition and come up with the prizes. (hee hee)

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

My vote is for West Virginia's 2nd:
salamander:

Note the name duality of Elbridge's political party. This is a problem which transcends partisanship even though statistical analysis will show that democrats are the experts with this tactic.

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

PING )))))))

[tet68]

We got one here in Ga.but I don't know how to get a pic,any one? Oh heck that woman Mckinney??

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

er, actually WV-2 looks more like a sperm, IMHO. Ewwwww

[2nd amendment mama]

My vote is Georgia's 4th district represented by the dis-honorable Cynthia McKinney

The 4th Congressional District of Georgia was created in December 1995 when a three-judge federal panel issued a map that dismantled two of the state's three majority-black districts drawn after the 1990 census. Under the new map, the 4th Congressional District encompasses most of DeKalb County and the southwest portion of Gwinnett County.

The district buttresses the City of Atlanta proper on the eastern border of the city. 87% of the district's population live in DeKalb County. Incorporated cities in DeKalb

County are:
Doraville
Chamblee
Clarkston
Decatur
Avondale Estates
Pine Lake
Stone Mountain
Lithonia

Unincorporated DeKalb County makes up the largest land parcel of the 4th District. A portion of Gwinnett County (Southwestern Gwinnett) is included in the district. The incorporated municipalities of Gwinnett County include Berkeley Lake and Norcross. The nothern most city limit of the city of Berkeley Lake marks the northern most border of the district in Gwinnett County. The district swings East and South over to, but does not including the City of Lilburn. Specifically, from the DeKalb-Gwinnett line on the north, the boundary follows Jones Mill Road up Crooked Creek to Holcomlb Bridge Road. The border takes a southerly turn following Highway 141 and up the Chattahoochee River around Berkeley Lake city limits to Gravitt Road. From Gravitt Road the boundary follows Old Norcross Road, Liddell Road south to Bromolow Creek to Beaver Ruin Creek and out onto Beaver Ruin Road to Burns Drive. Taking a westerly direction the boundary follows Dickens Road to Harbins Road, Williams Road to Rockbridge Road south to Jackson Creek. From Jackson Creek the border goes into Luckie Shoals Creek to the DeKalb County line just northeast of Tucker, Georgia.

[DallasJ7]

I'd have to say the North Carolina 12th District is one of the most gerrymandered in the nation. I believe this district has been made for Mel Watt. I don't I couldgerrymander this badly even if I wanted to. The 1st district is pretty bad too.

[DallasJ7]

Err, what I mean to say was...I don't think I could gerrymander that badly even if I wanted to.

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

Hmmm - this is an old map, but doesn't look too bad - perhaps we need higher resolution as I see The Peach State allows congressional districts to cross county lines:

[pointsal]

No contest.... look at Santa Barbara County, California. Dear Congresswoman Capps has a district that runs along the ocean and captures bodies at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Federal Penitentiary at Lompoc plus two colleges UCSB and Cal-Poly at San Luis Obispo. Is that safe... a batch of non-voters and a bunch of easily swayed mush-heads.

[timydnuc]

The democRATS have used their political influence in districts to redefine the congressional map. They used all their influence, almost all of their money,and all of their effort. The point is...it's not going to work. They have their districts, we have ours. What they tried was to break out districts. Most federal judges in Texas and other states didn't go for the outright manipulation. The news is good. We must get out the vote in our districts, regardless of what they consist of. Off year elections always favor Republicans. Make that count! Beat their ears back. We'll fight again in 2K+4. For now, kick their RAT butts back to the RAT hole they came from.

[JWinNC]

No contest. NC wins easy.

FUBAR

JWinNC

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

I second your nomination for the current NC 12th C.D. Did you know that that was the REVISED district approved by a three-judge federal panel as recently as June 1998? The original one drawn in February 1992 was even worse! If you like gerrymanders and redistricting issues, a great book to read (a little biased at the end but otherwise very informative) is Mark Monmonier's Bushmanders & Bullwinkles. It talks about the original NY 12th (Bullwinkle District), the original LA 4th (Z with drips District), and the IL 4th (Earmuff District), among others -- the legality of the latter one having been upheld in federal court. I'd try to post some pics but I'm a clueless newbie. :)

[Joan_of_Argghh!]

Florida takes the prize:

District 3

District 21

Too many others to note here.

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

Thanks to the tip about Mr. Monmonier's book. Here's the link to Bushmanders and Bullwinkles and here are some of it's pictures:
New York's 12th - Hispanic majority:

Illinois's 4th - Hispanic majority:

Louisiana's 4th - black majority:

Texas's 30th - black majority:

Texas's 29th - Hispanic majority:

Florida's 3rd - black majority:

North Carolina's 12th - black majority:

Georgia's 11th - black majority:

[911]

New York City has some beauties, especially the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 17th, and 18th.

Also, the 26th in upstate NY.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Thanks for the great maps, Joan_of_Argghh! I'll try to post some links here to some other maps from the same source:

Illinois 4th (Luis Gutierrez's fully Constitutional(!) Earmuffs District)
Louisiana 4th (unconstitutional Z with Drips District, before 1994 and 1996 revisions)
New York 12th (Nydia Velazquez's unconstitutional Bullwinkle District, before revision)
New York 12th (Revised Bullwinkle)
North Carolina 12th (Mel Watt's original unconst. I-85 Dist.)
My District, Texas 18th (Sheila Jackson-Lee's, found unconst.)
Texas 29th (found unconst., meshes with TX 18th, supposed to elect a Hispanic, represented by Gene Green (anglo Dem)
Texas 30th (found unconst., Eddie Bernice Johnson's district)

All the above links, as well as some of the revisions, can be reached from this link.

[DallasJ7]

Wow, those are pretty impressive. Georgia's 11th looks like Hillary.

[Libertina]

BUMP! You get the daily prize for most interesting post. And here I thought gerrymandering was illegal. Silly of me...

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Beat me to it! Thanks for posting those pics. I was too slow to crank out the names (from the Bushmanders book I cited earlier) together with the links and the people who represent those districts while you were posting the pics.

Cleo Fields, a black Democratic congressman, represented the Z with Drips until the courts found the 1994 map (as the 1992 map) unconstitutional. Republican Jims McCrery now represents the 4th, which is TOTALLY different than the original.

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

New York's 12th is the "Bullwinkle" referred to in the above post.about the book Bushmanders & Bullwinkles. It looks like the cartoon character Bullwinkle.

Ironically, "Bushmander" is termed for President Bush #1 when he tried to cull blacks and hispanics into their own seperate districts so as to strengthen the 1994 GOP congressional takeover.