From John Hill’s article in the Sacramento Bee: The two parties’ complex systems for allocating delegates will shape strategy in the last days of the election and may well influence the outcome, experts say. The statewide vote totals, of course, will play a part in the results – both in terms of the delegate count,… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Archive
Improving the Rules of the Game
Could you help Chris Swain make the Redistricting Game even better than it already is? Continue Reading
Proposition 93 & Redistricting Chatter
The Armed Liberal of the Winds of Change blog is against Prop. 93: I’ve believed for some time that reform of redistricting in California is hostage to entrenched political actors, who will have to be blasted out of their gerrymandered districts with a firehose. A reasonable redistricting proposal was defeated two years ago, in no… Continue Reading
Redistricting: Everyone’s got an Opinion
However, many armchair linedrawers don’t realize the restrictions the real linedrawers are under from a) the real world of politics and b) the courts. In any event, the Listmeister’s List Dump blog has an “Objective Redistricting” plan; see also Andrew Gelman’s post on the Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science blog: P.S. Ted Dunning… Continue Reading
We the Purple and Redistricting
Marcia Ford’s “We the Purple” blog, spreading the independent voter word, says: Independents find this abuse of political power to be especially heinous. However, most Americans consider redistricting—drawing the lines of congressional districts—to be synonymous with “drowsy somnolence.” *** Enter Manifold System’s Dimitri Rotow, who created several Google Earth files showing some of the worst… Continue Reading
Young Republican: Redistricting NOT the answer
Harsh words from the Young Republican Federation of Sacramento’s blog: Many of the activists seem to believe that with enough money, precinct walks, phone banks, redistricting, etc., the Republicans can become the majority party in California. In the late 70’s and into the 80’s and 90’s, Ford and GM discovered that advertising will not compensate… Continue Reading
Another Redistricting/93 Editorial
Visalia-Times Delta editorial: Proposition 93 is also the classic bait-and-switch. It gained petition signatures and lawmaker support to be placed on the ballot because it was combined with promises of redistricting reform.Redistricting reform never happened, but Proposition 93 is on the ballot anyway. And so it goes. *** The problem is, lawmakers are in charge… Continue Reading
Dr. Pitney on CA Republican Primary
From Ina Jaffe’s NPR report: Jack Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College, says Republicans are afraid that in districts with relatively few GOP voters the independents might engage in “mischief voting.” “They might vote maliciously to support the weaker candidate and thereby control the general election outcome,” he says adding, “There is very little… Continue Reading
Johnson on Prop. 93 & a New Speaker
From Fred Ortega’s article in the Whittier Daily News: With Proposition 93 doing poorly in the polls – though a recent Los Angeles Times poll has half of likely voters favoring the measure – potential heirs to Nuñez will find themselves in the spotlight, said Douglas Johnson, a fellow with the Rose Institute of State… Continue Reading
Redistricting Relates to… Healthcare Reform?
Boi from Troy says: Basically, the bill was killed by far-right Republicans who thought the bill was too expensive and expansive, and far-left Democrats who didn’t think it went far enough. Without redistricting reform, California will continue to elect candidates who represent the extremes of their parties, at the expense of moderate, centrist compromises like… Continue Reading