Redistricting - The Bad News (Unless You're A Republican) for Left or Right Brained Folks

As I've been writing about the Alaska Redistricting Board, I've tried to present things as objectively as possible.  But when you start talking about gerrymandering, some people think you are taking sides, even when you are simply presenting facts.  Here's some national context on the impact of biased redistricting around the country.  And why I've spent the last three years carefully covering the Alaska Redistricting Board here.  This stuff matters, even though it's mostly invisible.

For left brain folks - here's the redistricting song.






For right brain folks, here's the the analysis of how no matter what the Democrats do, the 2010 redistricting round has produced an almost vote proof Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

Redistricting Likely to Hamper Democratic Efforts in 2014, Study Finds

By JEREMY W. PETERS

Thanks largely to the way Congressional districts were drawn in the latest round of redistricting, even a dramatic wave election like the one in 2008 that swept President Obama into power and added to Democratic majorities in Congress would do little to alter the composition of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, a new, nonpartisan study found.
FairVote, an organization that examines voting patterns and laws, predicts that Republicans will maintain control of the House in 2014 unless Democrats meet the unlikely threshold of winning 56 percent of the vote nationwide.

Read the whole April 2013 New York Times blog post here.


But the Soviet Union was toppled and women have the right to vote, so nothing is impossible.  Though the new wave of state voting legislation that seems aimed at stopping Democratic voters (blacks, Hispanics, students, women) that followed the Supreme Court's decision to invalidate Section IV of the Voting Rights Act makes women's and other likely Democratic voters access to voting harder.

You think I'm exaggerating?  Just listen to former North Carolina county precinct GOP  chair Don Yelton talking to Assif Mandvi about the new voter ID law.  (He's former because he was asked to resign after this video went public.)

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

From Media-ite: 

"He insisted that the voter-ID law is “not racist” before admitting that he’s been called a “bigot” in the past. He defended a picture of President Obama “sitting on a stump as a witch doctor” as making fun of the “white half” of the president. He said if the law “hurts a bunch of lazy blacks who just want the government to give them everything, so be it.”
When Yelton started throwing around the “n-word” and complaining that only black people are allowed to use it, Mandvi stopped him to ask, “You know that we can hear you, right?” It only made things worse that Yelton’s ignorance was presented in contrast to the reasoned arguments of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the historic civil rights leader, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It turns out, this isn't racism or sexism, it's about keeping Democrats from voting.  What is it about humor that can get to the truth so much better than actual news shows?  That gets people like Yelton to say what he says?
The whole video is definitely worth watching.  Don't miss the end where they have suggestions for suppressing Republican voters.  (Remember, this was on a comedy show.)

And here's another one today on this from the Business Insider,  "Why Republicans Can Keep Screwing Up And Still Control The House."

#redistricting at Twitter has been a helpful source.  I found about the Yelton video at Immoral Minority.