The Failed Promise of Independent Election Mapmaking
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In Washington and other states, independent redistricting commissions have fallen prey to partisanship, just like the legislative bodies they were meant to replace.
@ProPublica some group should create an open source optimizer based on a small number of rules and standard data input format.
How about #Mozilla?
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The same is true of news media.
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Like so surprised NOT:
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
@ProPublica Shit, that was supposed to work better. What’s another option? Please don’t say AI.
@ProPublica Our proposed Ohio Redistricting commission will have 15 members, chosen by lottery after recommendation from retired judges, cannot have history of political office or be a former staffer.
@ProPublica The solution to #gerrymandering is the same as it's been for decades: use math, not people. Here is one way: https://www.rangevoting.org/SplitLR.html
@ProPublica Which "other states"? The article only discusses Washington state. To my knowledge the independent redistricting process is working fine here in California.
@ProPublica It's a vital improvement over letting legislators draw their own districts, and it can be an effective remedy to gerrymandering. Consider Michigan.
Independent redistricting commissions need public involvement and oversight like any other government body. We saw that right here in San Francisco, where we had our own fraught redistricting process. @lwvsf has been working hard to reform it.
Calling it a “Failed Promise” seems unnecessarily fatalistic. Maybe Washington's commission needs some changes. (That's a question for the people of Washington.) But let's not give up on the idea entirely—it can work well when done right and defended against corruption.
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This is a good one.