Post #2346060

Gerrymandering We’re now trying to compensate for Republican gerrymandering with Democratic gerrymandering. Even the Voting Rights Act was a deviation from mathematically ideal districts (at least in principle) for the beneficial and just cause of making majority minority districts within a deeply racist context. These strategies are hard to maintain because, in the minds of people removed from their origins, the justification can be hard to follow. Why? Because they are strategies that make exceptions to naive expectations of fairness based on specific contextual reasons. That makes it easy to mislead voters and it is a perpetual propaganda gift to opponents. What if we fight gerrymandering for racist goals with a strategy that conforms with naive expectations of fairness but is still good at preserving minority representation? It might be easier to campaign on this and win. It might be easier to defend from racists. It’s a reach but I think we’re in a season for setting out bold goals that would have been too risky before. Magats have already devastated our nation, perhaps the space made by this wreckage can be used by us to build something that is potentially more resilient. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/proportional-representation-can-reduce-impact-gerrymandering