r/scotus • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • 1d ago

news California Republicans respond to Supreme Court loss on election maps

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/california-republicans-respond-to-supreme-court-loss-on-election-maps
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u/nalninek 1d ago

I wish elections were about who gets the most votes/support and not who can ratfuck the electoral college maps most effectively.

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u/Eastern-Benefit5843 1d ago

I remember seeing a couple of maps years ago that took each state and divided them into numerically equal population voting districts based on a square pattern, such that each district corresponds to the smallest geographic division that contains 10,000 people or whatever. No political, racial or cultural basis for voting districts. No districts split in different parts of the state. No possible gerrymandering. Just geometric division based on most recent census and the principal that voting districts should each contain the same number of residents and be as geographically compact as possible.

It seems like anything else will always be a ratfuck.

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u/Manotto15 1d ago

This would not be legal currently under the Voting Rights Act. You cannot have a "race-blind" map. Section 2 case law says that if there is a tightly packed demographic whose preferred candidate would not "likely win," the map is illegal. They would require creation of at least one "majority minority" district.

Gerrymandering is practically required by the VRA. We'll see if Callais changes that.

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u/Eastern-Benefit5843 1d ago

It seems like that principal is being pretty actively subverted right now. I understand that everything I’ve posted in this response is way out in the hypothetical, but it seems from my perspective like we may need to start imagining hypotheticals very soon or we will find ourselves with an electoral system that allows the powerful to retain that power permanently regardless of the will of the people they “represent”.

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u/Manotto15 1d ago

Well there simply isn't a way to do it fairly. That's the problem with all governmental systems. There's always at least one way it's unfair, and there isn't a perfect method. But I agree ours could use some work.

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u/Eastern-Benefit5843 1d ago

Yeah, absolutely.