>Today, Problem Solvers Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Tom Suozzi (NY-03) along with Gerrymandering Working Group Co-Leads Reps. Jeff Hurd (CO-03) and Ed Case (HI-01) announced the Caucus’ endorsement of its bipartisan Gerrymandering Reform Framework. This comprehensive proposal restores trust in the congressional redistricting process, reduces partisan manipulation, and incentivizes better representation in Congress.
>The framework also identifies four bipartisan reforms designed to create a more transparent, fair, and consistent process for drawing congressional districts nationwide.
>The framework includes four core reforms:
>>Once-a-Decade Redistricting: Restrict congressional redistricting to once every ten years following the decennial Census.
>>Nationwide Uniform Standards: Require congressional districts to be drawn using clear, objective criteria while rejecting partisan advantage and incumbent protection as legitimate goals.
>>Reducing Partisan Influence: Support approaches that minimize partisan influence, including independent commissions, algorithmic mapping, and other mechanisms that promote public confidence.
>>Federal Resolution of Challenges: Establish a consistent federal process for resolving congressional redistricting disputes.
>Over the coming months, the Problem Solvers Caucus will develop these principles into common-sense legislation and continue to build a coalition of elected officials, election experts, special masters, legal scholars, and stakeholders from across the political spectrum.
this is all basically correct but enforcing the “nationwide uniform standards” is the big functional problem with any proposal of this nature and of course that’s left up in the air for future proposals
ldn6 on
Either institute proportional representation of stop wasting time with tweaks that don’t fix the issue.
Fluid-Nectarine-7980 on
Man I sure hope they come up with an actual plan at some point other than generally fixing gerrymandering
ILikeTuwtles1991 on
This is good. But there’s a slight problem, which is asking political parties to willingly give up the power they have to swing elections their way. Just a small roadblock.
surreptitioussloth on
If you want to fight gerrymandering, you have to make political balance in the elected delegation the goal, you can’t just use second order things like contiguity, compactness etc.
You can gerrymander maps while complying with those criteria, even if not to the extent you’d have without those constraints
As usual the “problem solvers” refuse to address the actual problem of disproportionate electoral outcomes
Al_787 on
Good luck ever finding 60 votes in the senate to pass that. Republicans are currently up 10-16 seats compared to other simulated fair maps, they’re not letting that go easily.
Besides, FPTP will remain corrosive to democracies, affecting both results and voters’ behavior. The UK is an example of fair maps and you still have shit like winning 33% of the votes and 63% of the seats, it’s nonsensical.
Mephisto1822 on
We really do a fix to gerrymandering. This framework seems more like concepts of a law than anything else. It briefs well but let’s see if it ever goes anywhere tangible.
The majority of republicans aren’t going to support this. They know if districts were drawn fair they would never win the house
PaulMcCartneyClone on
Outside of the proposed ban on mid-decade redistricting, I don’t see how any of this is an actual change? Most of the rest of the proposals already exist and are just abused/ignored.
Also, any anti-gerrymandering proposal that doesn’t include some form of proportional representation is not a serious proposal
8 Comments
>Today, Problem Solvers Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) and Tom Suozzi (NY-03) along with Gerrymandering Working Group Co-Leads Reps. Jeff Hurd (CO-03) and Ed Case (HI-01) announced the Caucus’ endorsement of its bipartisan Gerrymandering Reform Framework. This comprehensive proposal restores trust in the congressional redistricting process, reduces partisan manipulation, and incentivizes better representation in Congress.
>The framework also identifies four bipartisan reforms designed to create a more transparent, fair, and consistent process for drawing congressional districts nationwide.
>The framework includes four core reforms:
>>Once-a-Decade Redistricting: Restrict congressional redistricting to once every ten years following the decennial Census.
>>Nationwide Uniform Standards: Require congressional districts to be drawn using clear, objective criteria while rejecting partisan advantage and incumbent protection as legitimate goals.
>>Reducing Partisan Influence: Support approaches that minimize partisan influence, including independent commissions, algorithmic mapping, and other mechanisms that promote public confidence.
>>Federal Resolution of Challenges: Establish a consistent federal process for resolving congressional redistricting disputes.
>Over the coming months, the Problem Solvers Caucus will develop these principles into common-sense legislation and continue to build a coalition of elected officials, election experts, special masters, legal scholars, and stakeholders from across the political spectrum.
this is all basically correct but enforcing the “nationwide uniform standards” is the big functional problem with any proposal of this nature and of course that’s left up in the air for future proposals
Either institute proportional representation of stop wasting time with tweaks that don’t fix the issue.
Man I sure hope they come up with an actual plan at some point other than generally fixing gerrymandering
This is good. But there’s a slight problem, which is asking political parties to willingly give up the power they have to swing elections their way. Just a small roadblock.
If you want to fight gerrymandering, you have to make political balance in the elected delegation the goal, you can’t just use second order things like contiguity, compactness etc.
You can gerrymander maps while complying with those criteria, even if not to the extent you’d have without those constraints
As usual the “problem solvers” refuse to address the actual problem of disproportionate electoral outcomes
Good luck ever finding 60 votes in the senate to pass that. Republicans are currently up 10-16 seats compared to other simulated fair maps, they’re not letting that go easily.
Besides, FPTP will remain corrosive to democracies, affecting both results and voters’ behavior. The UK is an example of fair maps and you still have shit like winning 33% of the votes and 63% of the seats, it’s nonsensical.
We really do a fix to gerrymandering. This framework seems more like concepts of a law than anything else. It briefs well but let’s see if it ever goes anywhere tangible.
The majority of republicans aren’t going to support this. They know if districts were drawn fair they would never win the house
Outside of the proposed ban on mid-decade redistricting, I don’t see how any of this is an actual change? Most of the rest of the proposals already exist and are just abused/ignored.
Also, any anti-gerrymandering proposal that doesn’t include some form of proportional representation is not a serious proposal