Pennsylvania Republicans have drawn a new congressional map that is just as gerrymandered as the old

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Pennsylvania Republicans have drawn a new congressional map that is just as gerrymandered as the old one

By Christopher Ingraham February 11 at 9:16 AM

Last month the Pennsylvania Supreme Court instructed the state's Republican-led legislature to draw a new congressional map after finding the existing one was an illegal partisan gerrymander that violated voters' right to participate in “free and equal elections.”

On Friday, Republican leaders in the legislature submitted their new map for the governor's approval. As directed by the Supreme Court, the new map is much more compact than the old one. Gone are the infamous convolutions that characterized the old map, earning nicknames such as “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”

The new districts generally respect county and municipal boundaries and don't “wander seemingly arbitrarily across Pennsylvania,” as the state's Supreme Court wrote. Unfortunately for Pennsylvania voters, the new districts show just as much partisan bias as the old ones.

-snip-

Brian Amos, a redistricting expert at the University of Florida, has done exactly that. Amos combined the new district maps with precinct-level returns compiled by cartographers Nathaniel Kelso and Michal Migurski.

The similarities are striking: In 2016, Donald Trump received more votes than Hillary Clinton in 12 out of Pennsylvania's 18 districts. Under the Republicans' new map, Trump would similarly outperform Clinton in exactly 12 districts.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/11/pennsylvania-republicans-have-drawn-a-new-congressional-map-that-is-just-as-gerrymandered-as-the-old-one/

[sharedvalues]

1. GOP has to cheat to win. And they know it

All their billionaire donors need suppression and hateful identity politics to get barely enough votes to win.

This is a majority-D country.

If Dems turnout, they win. And if Dems win, democracy wins and America wins.

[Roland99]

2. They will keep screwing up on purpose to delay until after mid term elections

[DURHAM D]

3. Check this out - it shows the change in one district since 1952.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2018/2/5/it-is-a-dead-gerrymander

[NBachers]

4. Play out the clock 'till it's too late. Time for the court-approved non-partisan commission.

[BlueDog22]

5. But....

But the Trump thing was a fluke. It was a one time data point, and he had to turn a number of counties to do it. Some of those returns were a one time thing. You would have to go district by district over looking at returns from the last 12 to 16 years to see if anything is in play for the Democrats.

[dlk]

6. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise...