83
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
Multiple, proportionally weighted, representatives per district.
Gerrymandering is only an issue because a 50.001% majority for a precinct and an 80% majority are considered equivariant. We also ...
- 1,670
54
votes
Accepted
How far can gerrymandering go?
This is a rather simple mathematical exercise. If you allow me total freedom to draw districts within the current requirements, I can place anyone in any district I want provided they have equal ...
- 1,803
39
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
Note: This answer was written when the question was on Worldbuilding SE, the site for building consistent fictional worlds.
The German System (simplified):
Germany uses a form of Mixed-member ...
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33
votes
What is the proper (non-"Gerrymandering") purpose of political districting?
The purpose of political districting is to ensure local representation - something that is valued as itself in the US. This decision to have districts immediately leads to a debate on what is the ...
- 1,642
33
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
Mediaeval Iceland style:
Throw out the geographical restrictions entirely. Anyone who gets the backing of a certain number of people becomes a representative entitled to speak and vote at the ...
- 705
30
votes
How much can a US state grow by relative to the nation as a whole and still lose a seat?
See congressional apportionment...
Mathematically speaking this is a difficult question to address (similar to the knapsack problem) because one is trying to get a 'best fit' between a near-continuous ...
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25
votes
What is the proper (non-"Gerrymandering") purpose of political districting?
Single member districts are pretty unrepresentative
You are right to question the value of holding several single-member, First-past-the-post elections. FPTP essentially throws away all votes that ...
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19
votes
Accepted
Are states required to divide into congressional districts?
Q: Are states required to divide into congressional districts?
Yes.
2 U.S. Code § 2c - Number of Congressional Districts; number of Representatives from each District
In each State entitled in the ...
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17
votes
How far can gerrymandering go?
The problem here is that "one person one vote" can be based on residents rather than citizens or voters. So if you could assign people purely arbitrarily, you could fill up your districts with non-...
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16
votes
Are there any solid representative district planning strategies that can avoid gerrymandering?
One alternative is to let a totally impartial computer decide, based purely on census data and geography, with no details about the political (or other) makeup of the population. Brian Olsen's open ...
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16
votes
Accepted
Do states still have to redraw districts even if reapportionment doesn’t affect them?
Generally, yes. Even when a state keeps the same number of congressional districts, people might have moved around the state. Districts have to all be approximately equal in population, so when the ...
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15
votes
Accepted
How does gerrymandering work in the US?
How did gerrymandering evolve from a practice applied by one senator in Massachusetts to something commonly applied across the US?
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts is normally considered the ...
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15
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
Drop the election, adopt demarchy
Vote is not the only way to reach democracy. In fact, some argues that it prevent real democracy, and lead to oligarchy, because by selecting representetives, you ...
- 329
14
votes
Have Republicans ever complained about gerrymandering in the United States?
Yes, everyone complains about gerrymandering when the gerrymandering doesn't help them.
To answer your questions specifically, there is an ongoing case in Maryland where the Democrats are accused of ...
14
votes
What is the proper (non-"Gerrymandering") purpose of political districting?
What is the purpose of districts?
The purpose of districts is so that different areas have their own representation. This allows their local concerns to have a voice and gives residents in the ...
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14
votes
Is the North Carolina 2016 Congressional map gerrymandered?
Are North Carolina's districts extremely common sense?
You can look for yourself - the colors designate each district.
Other than 2 and 4, they look pretty common sense and even those aren't ...
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14
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
The most interesting approach to this I've heard of was during the Alternative Vote referendum in the UK, where "oh but local representatives" was a major opposition argument. The proposal ...
- 693
13
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
Drop the two party system you seem to assume, and first-past-the-gate principle.
In much of Europe it is proportional representation. Gerrymandering is not usually an issue.
For example, here we have ...
- 1,024
12
votes
In an MMP system, why don't parties game the system by splitting into two parties?
This has actually happened.
Lesotho is one of the four or so countries to use the MMP system.
In the 2007 general election, the ruling party voluntarily split in two, fielding only electorate ...
- 391
12
votes
Is the North Carolina 2016 Congressional map gerrymandered?
The recent Supreme Court ruling on this specific case is available. In this instance the court was split 5-4 along Conservative/Liberal lines.
The majority opinion states that Partisan Gerrymandering ...
- 23.9k
12
votes
How do democracies other than the US handle changes to district maps?
Many countries (in Europe and elsewhere) use some sort of proportional representation with multiple seats per district. Districts are very stable, possibly as large as a US state or even just a single ...
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12
votes
In layperson's terms: Supreme Court to Hear Case on State Legislatures’ Power Over Elections?
If the court rules in favor of the legal theory being advanced, then state legislatures would have unfettered ability to ignore state constitutions, state laws, and state courts, and to exclude the ...
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11
votes
How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
No system can perfectly solve this problem mathematically, fundamentally it is an issue of aggregation and discretisation. When you aggregate a voter pool, you necessarily lose information about the ...
- 209
11
votes
Accepted
How could US Congress' H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021 actually cost Black representation in the South by prohibition of partisan gerrymandering?
A majority of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus represent majority-minority districts. Many of those districts are the result of gerrymanders that aim to comply with Section 2 or Section ...
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10
votes
Does gerrymandering risk tidal wave reversal?
Yes, it definitely could happen.
The mathematical version of gerrymandering is easily expressed in integer programming, as shown here (for people who like MIPs).
In its simplest version (without ...
- 3,361
10
votes
Accepted
Are US Congressional districts required to be connected?
You're talking about contiguity, which refers to the idea that a district is one piece (physically adjacent). A district with a section located in another district – like an island – is not contiguous....
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10
votes
In layperson's terms: Supreme Court to Hear Case on State Legislatures’ Power Over Elections?
Update, concerning "State Legislatures’ Power Over Elections".
On June 27, 2023, Politico reports:
By a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the “independent state legislature” theory in a case ...
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9
votes
Is Baltimore unfair to Republican voters?
You'll have to ask K Dog. The question was about city elections, so all these answers about states' gerrymandering of congressional districts are irrelevant. Here is what he was responding to:
"With ...
- 91
9
votes
Accepted
Is it common for British MPs to have no connection to their electoral district?
Extremley.
The practice is sometimes referred to as "parachuting candidates". All the major parties do it.
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