SXSW Panel Asks, Will Gerrymandering Get Worse Before It Gets Better?
AUSTIN -- “A decade ago, the words ‘gerrymandering’ or ‘apportionment’ didn’t resonate with voters,” began Michael Li. “That has totally changed in the last few years. ‘Gerrymandering’ does move voters in a big way.” A nearly full Hilton meeting room seemed to confirm his judgment.
Li, of the Brennan Center for Justice, and Michael McDonald of the University of Florida and the Public Mapping Project, paired up for a presentation on the current state of legislative and congressional redistricting, and in tandem declared the prospects “mixed.” Each pointed to continuing problems with racial and partisan gerrymandering – increasingly overlapping categories – and each indicated that greater citizen education and participation can push back against one-party dominions over drawing electoral lines.
Li began by pointing out that the problem precedes Elbridge Gerry, the Massachusetts politician for whom the process of imbalanced electoral districts is named. In fact, Patrick Henry first attempted to draw his political enemy James Madison out of a favorable district, but "Henry-ism" or “Henry-mander” never quite caught on. Li’s point was that districting controversies have a very long history – and we have reason to believe they will get worse.
That’s partly because of increasing political polarization – dominant parties in any state have real incentives to weaken their institutional opponents – and the computer technology that has made redistricting and therefore gerrymandering easier is steadily more refined. “There is a lot of reason to be concerned,” said Li, as the programming becomes increasingly sophisticated. Later, he and McDonald mentioned “Facebook-type” personal data as having provided extremely specific “propensity” data at the neighborhood and even individual voter level, and is increasingly being used to draw radically precise maps.
Read more: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-03-08/sxsw-panel-asks-will-gerrymandering-get-worse-before-it-gets-better/
