https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-12-2025?r=ad9v7&utm_medium=ios #northcarolina #supremecourtNC #gerrymander #vote @heidilifeldman #governorjoshStein

This House race reflects how the Supreme Court has narrowed options for Black voters

This spring, the Supreme Court signed off on district lines in South Carolina that Republican state lawmakers said they had designed to benefit their party.

The 1st District, held for the last four years by Rep. Nancy Mace (R), had previously been competitive

but is now ranked solidly Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report after redrawn lines placed more Republican voters in the district and ensured the share of Black voters would not rise, staying at 17 percent.


Last year a federal three-judge panel found that the district lines represented an unconstitutional racial #gerrymander
that “exiled” to a neighboring district tens of thousands of Black voters who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.

But Justice Samuel A. #Alito Jr., writing in May for a six-justice Supreme Court majority consisting entirely of GOP nominees, contended there was little evidence that South Carolina lawmakers had focused on RACE as they drew lines to maximize a Republican edge.

Gerrymandering for mere PARTISAN
advantage, the court has previously ruled, cannot be blocked by federal courts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/09/gerrymandering-black-voters-supreme-court/

Excellent article about the anxiety Ohioans are grappling with and how it colors electoral decisions.

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/04/24/for-whom-the-bellwether-tolls-is-ohio-an-omen/

#OH #elections # politicians #corruption #gerrymander #anxiety #AI

With the Republicans holding just a two-vote majority in the House of Representatives, voters will go to the polls in November in at least two congressional districts that have been challenged as discriminatory against people of color.
After months of delays and appeals, courts have decided in the last two weeks that the maps in #South #Carolina and #Florida will stand,
giving Republican incumbents an advantage.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take action on South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
In January 2023, a three-judge federal panel had declared it an illegal #racial #gerrymander that must be redrawn before another election was held.
In Florida, the congressional map has faced long-running discrimination lawsuits in both state and federal courts, with one state judge ruling that a district near Jacksonville disadvantaged voters of color.
A higher court overturned that judgment, but an appeal from voting rights and civil rights groups is still pending before the state Supreme Court, which has said it could be months before it rules.
A decision about another contested district in #Utah is pending with the state Supreme Court and seems unlikely to be resolved before the elections, according to Mark Gaber of the Campaign Legal Center, who represents plaintiffs in a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit.

https://www.propublica.org/article/elections-district-maps-deemed-discriminatory-south-carolina-florida

Got fair election?

For the first time in years the election this fall for seats in the #Wisconsin legislature will *not* be based on district boundaries that are heavily gerrymandered in favor of republicans. The map below shows the new district boundaries.

Currently the GOP has a majority of seats in both the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Senate. It will be interesting to see if one or both of those majorities change after the election this fall.
#Gerrymandering #Gerrymander

Open GISsurfer map: https://bit.ly/49E6KLr

“#Wisconsin lawmakers voted to adopt legis maps drawn by Dem gov Tony Evers – inching state closer to undoing extreme #gerrymander that has ensured GOP control for more than a decade.

…sign that the years-long battle over Wisconsin’s legislative maps may be finally drawing to a close, giving Dems a chance to win control of state legis in upcoming elections for 1st time since 2012”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/13/wisconsin-senate-new-voter-maps-gerrymandering?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

February 11, 1812: "Gerrymander" Born in Massachusetts

https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/gerrymander-born-in-massachusetts.html?utm_source=Mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eMoment

Definitely shows "Yankee ingenuity," though it's not one of the Commonwealth's better contributions to US political culture.

Upside: article reminds us that Gerry's name was originally pronounced with a hard "g"--so now that you know, you can show off your superior knowledge at cocktail parties, faculty meetings, and academic conferences

Wisconsin Republican leader slams Democrats' proposed election maps as 'political gerrymander'

From the Article:... #wisconsin #gerrymander #wigop

https://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-republican-leader-slams-democrats-201311315.html?guccounter=1

So far, post-2022 #redistricting has likely netted Republicans two or three seats.

But depending on how the final maps are configured, that number could change yet again — and even perhaps tilt the field, ever so slightly, toward favoring Democrats.

With primaries in some states just weeks away, there are still big unresolved questions of what some districts will look like. Here are the big redistricting storylines to watch.
Three states have already drawn new maps — some with big consequences

North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia have already drawn new lines after the midterms in response to successful litigation from challengers.

The Republican-dominated legislature drew a strong #GOP #gerrymander last year that could net the party as many as four seats in the Tar Heel State.
The state currently has an even split of seven Democrats and seven Republicans, but the GOP-controlled state Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to go to potentially a 10-4 Republican split

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/08/house-redistricting-2024-elections-00134053

The GOP is a sick, grifting, antidemocratic bunch of fucks. #Wisconsin #GOP #Gerrymander #IndictTheGOP

Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down GOP's gerrymandered maps, orders new ones for 2024 https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/wisconsin-supreme-court-legislative-maps-gerrymandering-rcna131011

Via Kyle Griffin:

A new lawsuit challenges several districts in #NorthCarolina's new Republican-backed congressional maps — alleging they're an illegal racial #gerrymander.

The lawsuit says Districts 1, 6 and 14 were drawn to dilute the power of voters of color #VotingRights
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2023/12/city-congressional-2023-redistricting-lawsuit-north-carolina-racial-gerrymander

Lisa Needham at Public Notice with an excellent take on our terrible situation in NC thanks to the GOP at all levels.

#gerrymander #election

https://open.substack.com/pub/aaronrupar/p/north-carolina-gerrymandered-congressional-maps?r=2ud2n&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

"As the poster child of gerrymandering, North Carolina has the lowest percentage of voters registered in the country. The dismal rate is a direct consequence of politicians drawing uncompetitive districts for decades. As one voter, from the gerrymandered city/county of Wilmington, described the effect, 'People don’t feel like they’re represented, to the point where they don’t even want to vote anymore.'" https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/north-carolina-republicans-enact-highly-gerrymandered-new-maps/ #NorthCarolina #gerrymander #VoterSuppression #elections

The current #GOP dysfunction in the #House is what happens when you #gerrymander extreme districts. In 1996, Karl Rove wrote an oped in the WSJ proclaiming that “he who controls redistricting controls Congress.” Well, jokes on him (and everyone else).

Unfortunately, the #GOP was successful in targeting statehouses, controlling redistricting, and suppressing the #vote with a lot of help from #SCOTUS. And here we are.

#democracy #uspolitics #uspols

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703862704575099670689398044

#Wisconsin #NorthCarolina #GOP #gerrymander #Democrats

Democrats gerrymandered to extinction.

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/north-carolina-gop-power-grab-roy-cooper

It is absolutely insane that a party can lose a statewide legislative vote by 8 points yet end up with *a supermajority*.

#gerrymander #gerrymandering

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/opinion/wisconsin-judge-impeachment-democracy.html?unlocked_article_code=vbYqQgTK50aHSMIjz1uKdd9Fsqokx764-75I-AsGvODwRrssOwtUOl4Sx8DjC9kKmYFEAuPTd0ibMhuIRr93XzKa2lB_3eq7KcH2tSXpZ6FFu0ytjg40fm6XFRVVz07qGEoc8mVDfLW3CS7AG92dc2eh3ObX67Pb21EYakrRTPBL2y7EgaWclLWiF7ac56I1BrD-HcIOZlmJxr6aZoUU20w-AAqyHLu2m6lG_QIHMFV0p1gUFffyHkVQ2MxKYzVJhcu8756c_8PjcWOHngI_TYWtFCopFL5W0sqAwFkxEnfauMhHiDte8UHVxaW1pGIfO2H6ZuIqMvFfKmMr-Chqcro5m2ypuWP2F8u_Me9B9Q&smid=url-share

JFC- there is no end to the malfeasance. They'll do *whatever* it takes to #gerrymander democracy. #Wiscinsin
https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-supreme-court-impeachment-protasiewicz-d70c37d6c4425de480bcd7555914e4e4

Wisconsin Republicans Are Reminding Us Once Again That They Really, Really Hate Democracy

The Wisconsin GOP is at it again. With the party's stranglehold on the State Supreme Court in peril following a judicial election last spring, Republicans are now seeking to impeach the new judge before the court can throw out the state’s rigged election maps.

“No matter how much Wisconsin voters might want to elect a Dem. Legislature the #GOP #gerrymander won’t allow them to.”

https://jacobin.com/2023/09/wisconsin-republicans-democracy-janet-protasiewicz-voting-rights-gerrymandering