Gerrymandering. Election Innovation Challenge By Siawale Vesslee, Kia DaSilva, Hanna Dunakin Pedro Castillo

Transcription

1 Gerrymandering Election Innovation Challenge By Siawale Vesslee, Kia DaSilva, Hanna Dunakin Pedro Castillo

2 Introduction Gerrymandering is the act of drawing lines dividing districts in order to give an advantage to a certain party. There are three types of gerrymandering. A perfect example of gerrymandering would be to split up the districts into five straight lines. That way there are more blue districts than there are red and vice versa. The next is a compact but unfair example which is when you split districts up into congruent shapes but one type of party still has an advantage over the other party. The final one is neither compact or fair. This example is when the districts are split into completely different shapes and there is one party that has advantage over the other. *View visual examples on next slide*

3 Visual Examples

4 Gerrymandering in Philadelphia Pennsylvania is the second most gerrymandered state in the nation. That makes Philadelphia s council districts one of the most gerrymandered in the country. After 1990, Rick Mariano wanted to retain his seat on council. Therefore he wanted to recreate district lines that stretched around a growing Latino population that wanted him replaced. Wilson Goode who is a former mayor wanted this idea vetoed. Therefore he struck a deal with new mayor (at the time), Ed Rendell and they split up the Latino voting bloc into several districts instead of one. Once this happened, Philadelphia became the gerrymandered city that it is today. *Picture of Philadelphia s districts on next page*

5 Gerrymandering in Philadelphia Here is a picture of Philadelphia s districts as of May 18th, 2015:

6 Why is it a Problem? Gerrymandering is to cheat on direct representation. People vote for their own individual interests, but lines are drawn so that their interests aren t represented. Example: Area A needs a place to put a dump, and decides to put it in a certain area, such as area C. Area C is divided into certain sections so that the people who live there are represented by more than one person. Because people want to be elected, lines are drawn so that the majority of people voting for them are the people in area A, meaning area C is completely ignored in the final vote, so they have no say where the dump goes. Citizens of the U.S. believe they have a say about who gets voted, but because of gerrymandering, they don t.

7 Why is it a Problem? It contributes to low voter turn-outs. How? Because of all the lines drawn, many people's interests and desires are not heard and completely ignored, so they decide, if their voice is never heard, how will their vote contribute or impact the final result? It keeps the same party in power the entire time. It gives advantage to the party in power and suppresses minorities Legislatures and their special interests redistrict to choose their voters before voters have a chance to choose them. It denies people the right to vote for whomever they choose.

8 Our Solution (Part 1): Committee of 70 To reduce political advantage, we ll take redistricting out of state hands. Form a non-partisan committee Named for the 7 states that have appointed non-legislator advisory boards (Iowa, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, and Rhode Island) We know that this is possible, because historical precedent shows this happening in other American states, including: Iowa s Legislative Services Bureau California's Citizens Redistricting Commission

9 Our Solution (Part 2): Legislature Existing legislature to ensure contiguity of districts is extremely weak. Disproportionate representation can happen when districts gerrymandered with questionable contiguity encompass (or exclude) parts of surrounding districts. A law restricting the shape of these districts could help ensure that districts are contiguous and limit the amount of gerrymandering. We propose that PA be required to fashion its districts in the shape of the state of Pennsylvania to inspire some state pride and regulate the contiguity of the districts. (Of course, exceptions would have to be made for extenuating circumstances)

10 Conclusion Gerrymandering is something that continues to contribute to the low voting numbers throughout the United States. Without proper representation, minorities do not have a say in the elections that have a huge impact on their lives. Our solution is a way to ensure each district has a proper proportion of voters. Our solution brings out a variety of each party and voters will not feel pressured to vote for a certain person to be office. In addition, without much pressure, voter turnout will be much higher in each district.

11 Annotated Bibliography Friedman, Howard. "Simple Steps to Eliminate Gerrymandering." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Mar Web. 12 Nov < This site gives inspiration examples of how to eliminate gerrymandering. These examples provided inspiration to how we thought of our own solution to the problem. Levitt, Justin. "Who Draws the Lines?" All About Redistricting. Loyola Law School, Web. 12 Nov < Tthis sources tells us how the governemnt is involved in setting districts. It allows us to see how redistricting contributes to gerrymandering. Ingraham, Christopher. "This Is the Best Explanation of Gerrymandering You Will Ever See." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 1 Mar Web. 13 Nov < This soource gave us visuals on how gerrymandering works and how it causes a problem when it comes to what voices and parties are being heard.

12 Annotated Bibliography cont. "State Redistricting Laws RedistrictingOnline." Redistrictingonline.org. Web. 13 Nov < This source tells us how states redistrict their voting areas. In addition, it explains what kindds of provisions are taken. Orso, Anna. "Philadelphia's Council Districts Are among the Most Gerrymandered in America -- That's Changing This Election." Billy Penn. Billypenn.com, 18 May Web. 13 Nov < This source deal swith gerrymandering inphiladelphia. It also shows how Philadelphia was able to become the 7th most gerrymandered district.