Posted on 11/02/2010 7:37:12 AM PDT by facedodge
Ever wonder why Congressional District 23 in California has the moniker "Ribbon of Shame," or why Illinois' 17th Congressional District has been dubbed "Rabbit on a Skateboard?"
The two districts are among hundreds in the country that have garnered national fame -- and often ridicule -- for their odd shapes, a result of a controversial process called redistricting.
At least once every decade, state legislatures in 44 states draw up lines for congressional districts in a process that results in much partisan bickering, and one that critics charge is less scientific than political.
It is one of the most important political processes because it not only determines the number of seats a state will get in the U.S. House of Representatives, it also creates boundaries for educational and public institutions.
Next year, when the process begins, it could mean a big boon for Republicans.
As Republicans and Democrats vie for control of the House of Representatives in this election, what happens at the state legislature level on Nov. 2 could have profound implications to the future of both parties.
"The control of state government, in general, both state legislatures and governors, is especially critical and, of course, the parties are keenly aware of this and have been putting an unprecedented amount of money into legislative races around the country," said Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Republicans are expected to gain control of at least a dozen state legislatures around the country, and as many as 19 out of the 46 states where local elections are being held.
GOP gubernatorial candidates also are projected to win key races where redistricting battles will be fought most heavily next year, such as Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Barney Franks district looks like the small and large intestines, leading to . . . well . . . Barney Frank.
Never fails. As soon as the GOP has some control over redistricting, all of a sudden it becomes “bad” and “controversial.”
The courts will try to throw out anything that favors Republicans.
We need a plausible mathematical geometric objective algorithm, or at least limits to tortuousness.
Federal offices need federal controls. Same for voting fraud.
Sometimes powerful elected officials and controlling parties can work at cross purposes here. Barney Frank, for instance, may want the lines drawn to bring in enough lefties to give him a safe margin. Fine. That means ALL of the surrounding districts have fewer lefties, making them more competitive. In MASS, that usually doesn’t make a difference. This year it might.
This REALLY plays out well in southern districts where Republicans happily draw districts that are 80-90% minority, to ... you know, make sure they get their own seat ... at the cost of all the surrounding districts. The black politicans elected in those heavily minority districts are all too happy to play along.
They should have thought of this before they rammed Obama’s agenda down our throats. Too late.
I've been thinking the same thing. Just a few thoughts off the top of my head:
Unfortunately, it will probably require a Constitutional amendment to enforce this uniformly in every state. To sweeten the pot, I'll toss out a few more suggestions. Comments and counter-points welcome:
redistricting happens pretty much after every census... so its “controversial” when the GOP is in power?
1. No counting of votes, or even opening of sealed ballot boxes until 24 hours after the polls close.
2. Once vote counting begins, no additional votes are allowed into the count until an investigation is done as to why the votes were not turned in on time.
3. The “Found” ballot box remains sealed until the “chain of evidence” is established. If an honest mistake was made the person in charge of delivering the ballot box is barred from ever working in any part of the elections process. If criminal intent is discovered, the person in charge of delivering the ballot box is barred from ever working in any part of the elections process, and spends 10 years in the federal prison system.
4. In either case, all “found” votes are investigated for validity and legality, and only those votes that are valid and legal will be allowed to count towards the vote tally.
Here’s my added thoughts on district boundaries. Some of these are alternatives:
“Type One” district boundary segments: District boundaries may include as their border any portion of a county boundary, a municipal boundary, a navigable waterway, an interstate highway (possibly other major highways).
“Type Two” district boundary segments are those other than Type One, and must be formed of straight lines, and be free from “tortuousness.” This means: No angles more acute than 90 degrees (including those formed with Type One boundaries). No “bays” or “peninsulas” may be formed.
No district may have a boundary/area ratio greater than a rectangle with a 2:1 side length ratio.
No district may have a boundary/area ratio greater than double that of any other district in the state.
All districts shall be formed of state boundaries, have no interior acute angles, and shall share no more than one single straight boundary with any other district (would look like a honeycomb, though long cells would be possible).
Districts must be formed only of county lines, except as necessary to divide counties with a population greater than that of a district, or to share at most one county to equalize adjacent districts. Lines dividing counties shall be a single straight line segment perpendicular to a line connecting the geographic centers of the two districts. No district may include more than one divided county portion. No state shall have more divided counties than districts. No county shall be shared by more than two districts. Counties shall be assigned to districts to minimize (or be below a threshold) of tortuousness.
One measure of tortuousness could be the ratio of the line connecting the two farthest corners of the district, to the line spanning the narrowest “waist” of the district.
Regarding CT, it looks like Bridgeport and New Haven are just as corrupt as Elk always said. CT is going to need a Marco Rubio with Linda McMahon money to make a dent. Or, perhaps a really big depression. The whole state seems to be sleep-walking.
the next 2 years of circus activity in Hartford might create a minimal amount of revolt among the grassroots.
rank and file Republicans boycotted the election again this year. No activity on the ground. Fundraising is the only acceptable event in CT GOP circles.
I got 2 wins where I was involved minimally: Wolcott House and Plainville Senate. Markley won by 8% margin.
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