Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
North Carolina adopts non-partisan redistricting rules (Original Post) littlemissmartypants Aug 2021 OP
If so Cawthorn may very lose his seat! PortTack Aug 2021 #1
He deserves nothing less. I'm so glad you mentioned that. littlemissmartypants Aug 2021 #2
Yes! That's how it is done. Obama called gerrymandering very important to stop, after he left office Bernardo de La Paz Aug 2021 #3
I'll believe it when I see it moose65 Aug 2021 #4
They're using nonpartisan data, but the committee itself is still majority GOP legislators, no? Fiendish Thingy Aug 2021 #5
They don't need to use it at this point. blm Aug 2021 #7
Precisely. Nt Fiendish Thingy Aug 2021 #8
That's correct FBaggins Aug 2021 #9
I use software to draw congressional districts, as a hobby. Foolacious Aug 2021 #6

moose65

(3,309 posts)
4. I'll believe it when I see it
Sat Aug 14, 2021, 07:40 AM
Aug 2021

I don’t trust these asses in the NC General Assembly. They have had power for 10 years and won’t give it up easily.

Fiendish Thingy

(18,508 posts)
5. They're using nonpartisan data, but the committee itself is still majority GOP legislators, no?
Sat Aug 14, 2021, 08:04 AM
Aug 2021

This is different from the requirements in the For The People Act, which require nonpartisan committees of non-legislators to draw districts under strict guidelines.

blm

(113,817 posts)
7. They don't need to use it at this point.
Sat Aug 14, 2021, 05:48 PM
Aug 2021

They have the data memorized by now.

This is a public relations ploy designed to get the headlines they want and maximum attention by also attacking Holder and Dems.

FBaggins

(27,702 posts)
9. That's correct
Mon Aug 16, 2021, 12:40 PM
Aug 2021

If you look at who the tweet comes from, it's pretty clear that this is just an attempt to proactively keep the state surpreme court at bay. "Not only are we not using race to draw these lines... we're not even going to look at partisan data".

In fact, while the rules were being drawn up, there were Democrats insisting that race must be included. They were voted down.

Foolacious

(516 posts)
6. I use software to draw congressional districts, as a hobby.
Sat Aug 14, 2021, 10:57 AM
Aug 2021

I've developed my own software but more recently use a publicly-available system. Here's something I've noted:

If I do NOT take account of partisan (Democratic/Republican) data, but simply create compact districts of equal size that follow existing precinct and, to the extent possible, county boundaries, then the maps I make are almost invariably "auto-gerrymandered" in favor of Republicans, by which I mean that they receive a higher proportion of safe and likely seats than their proportion of the state population.

One reason for this is that Democrats tend to live in more densely populated areas, so they end up in a few districts that are 70%, 80%, even 90% Democratic, while Republicans end up in a larger number of districts that are 55% to 60% Republican.

But even if I do try to redistribute precincts into districts with an eye to correcting this partisan imbalance, it can still be difficult to achieve good proportionality. This is because the precincts in more densely populated areas are frequently five or ten times as populous as rural ones and frequently "interlock" with each other (where one precinct contains "outposts" of another precinct) so they tend to get automatically lumped together no matter what. Now, why are precincts in Democratic areas larger, and why are they interlocked? I can see no good reason for it, but it seems to happen in many if not most states.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»North Carolina»North Carolina adopts non...