From the Article:
Republican majorities would shrink but the party would maintain an upper hand in the Wisconsin Legislature under new redistricting plans proposed by the Democratic voters who convinced the state Supreme Court to declare the state’s Republican-drawn legislative maps unconstitutional.
Seven sets of map proposals were submitted to the court Friday afternoon by parties to a redistricting lawsuit that has generated national attention.
In its Dec. 22 opinion, the Supreme Court’s liberal majority said remedial maps must comply with the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirements that voting districts be compact, include equal populations and have boundaries that physically connect. That last requirement, known as contiguity, was the justification the court’s 4-3 liberal majority used to strike down current Republican drawn maps.
The majority said it would also consider “partisan impact” to measure political fairness of new maps, telling parties that it would take care to avoid picking new maps that favor one political party over another.The proposals submitted Friday mark the beginning of the court’s efforts to replace maps that have helped Republicans cement lopsided legislative majorities in a state that’s otherwise known for close elections.
Well, the point wasn’t to gerrymander the state in the favor of democrats, it was to make the election map fair. If a fair map means a tilt towards Republican control, that’s ok
And Republicans have their seats because of the gerrymandered maps. After a general election the map will even out due to representation.
The point is that it’s not fair, it’s still biased towards republicans.
Fair doesn’t mean a coin toss between who wins. It means that districts represent actual demographics.
I’m making no assertion about these maps in particular but just generally that forcing a 50:50 split doesn’t make something fair if the split isn’t there in reality.
Of course fair doesn’t mean forcing a 50:50 split. Why would you think I thought that? Where in the world is there an election that does this?
The point is that these maps lean republican rather than representing actual demographics. That is what I mean when I write that they are biased.
If demographics and geography favor Republicans, then that’s how the cookie crumbles.
This seems like the best scenario for any state to be in. If a party allows for the redistricting to favor the other party, then you know it’s fair.
Yes, lets reward cheating with more power.
The theory is that reality has a liberal bias, if they just provide fair maps things will begin to balance out properly, also just because the other guys are cheating doesn’t make cheating the answer, didn’t yo momma ever teach you two wrongs don’t make a right?
For the love of God we need multi winner districts and/or proportional representation so redistricting won’t matter.
Description for the visually impaired: A frame from the Simpsons depicting a fictional Democratic Party convention. A hapless looking man stands at a podium in the center, above a crowd of angry people holding signs facing him. Above the man are two banners. One says “We hate life and ourselves”, and the other says “We can’t govern!”.
