I can't seem to find information on why the new districts being defined are not just optimizing for Red? The intent is that the new districts are determined by some neutral algorithm (and it will be Blue / Red based that population) - but are they? What is the process being used?
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It's no longer based exclusively on race...
u/#racingtrump
The Court ruled that race cannot be the predominant factor when creating voting maps. Instead, mapmakers rely heavily on the following data points and principles:
Partisan Voting History: Mapmakers look at past election results rather than individual party registrations. They analyze how precincts voted in previous presidential, gubernatorial, or senatorial races to predict future voting behavior.
Political Gain (Partisan Gerrymandering): The Supreme Court previously ruled that partisan gerrymandering is a political question beyond the reach of federal courts. Lawmakers can explicitly draw maps to favor one political party over another, provided they rely on political data rather than racial demographics.
Core Preservation: Mapmakers often design new districts to protect incumbent politicians or keep the vast majority of an existing district's population together.
Geographic and Administrative Lines: Mapmakers use hard, race-neutral boundaries like county lines, city limits, major highways, and rivers to segment voters.
Mathematical Compactness: Computers use algorithms to pack populations into geometric shapes that minimize sprawling or irregular borders. No more crap like this
Because race and political party affiliation are often highly correlated, the Supreme Court noted that mapmakers must clearly disentangle the two. Under this legal framework, a state can legally justify highly skewed or unusual districts by arguing they were drawn for purely political or partisan objectives, rather than racial ones.
I found that to be very informative- thank you so much! What the processes used to determine these maps was what i was wanting to find
What I’m surprised by is that there is no intent to be impartial- rather, it is expected you WILL be partisan, but you can’t be partisan based on race.
I still find this partisan approach to be whacked. Having said that, i do get it to some extent that you want an elected representative to support the majority of their constituents…. Not just 51% of them
I had to ask Google AI, because it wasn't clear to me either, fren.
In fact, a week ago, I had NO IDEA they were even basing them on race! I certainly thought that had to be an impossibility because every place of business has a bulletin board plastered with govt law and propaganda I guess? - telling us how they're "equal opportunity" etcetera.
AI just gave me a list of websites and initially would not answer the question regarding what districts were actually based on if not race... After telling it I'm not sifting through all those, it soit out essentially what I posted - albeit more verbose and sloppy...
To be clear, they STILL may use race as a partial determining factor - but legally now, they can't use it as the primary factor when creating the map...So we should keep an eye on that.
u/#catdance
Your pepe is the pepe i want when I’m all grown up!
I should have thought to go to AI to get that question started, but i am not an AI fan. Use it or lose it….. and i fear we will lose a lot in the coming years.