Bacon's Rebellion

Redistricting: Incumbents, Race, and Prisoners

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
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8 responses to “Redistricting: Incumbents, Race, and Prisoners”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    trying to understand what “political fairness” is…… 😉

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Not encumbering an incumbent. Being sensitive to their current address.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        so exactly what does”not encumbering” and “being sensitive” mean with respect to the actual map drawing, and how is it different from using incumbency as criteria in drawing district lines?

        How does this differ from actually using incumbency explicitly in drawing lines?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          So, if you’re Joe Sixpack, you might go to work someday and the boss says, “We’re closing this office. If you want to keep your job, you have to move.” Not so with political connections.

  2. tmtfairfax Avatar
    tmtfairfax

    If the incumbents’ home addresses are to be considered, we are back to where we were before – partisan gerrymandering. This factor was not supposed to be considered. And we wonder why people of all political persuasions are cynical.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Yes, I’m of a similar view. They basically got incumbency back in the criteria and fundamentally, that’s what gerrymandering really is all about.

      Not surprised and really expected it downstream of the initial promotion that they were going to do it differently this time around.

      Someone will have to convince me we’re not back to same-old, same-old here.

      I want to see two maps – a “final map” without incumbency and the same map (with other demographic variables fixed) with just the one variable incumbency.

      I be we don’t see that actual comparison.

      so.. disappointed but expected it.

  3. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Great stuff, Dick. You’ve really found the high drama in the redistricting mess. I usually find deep dives into the legislative weeds to be mind-numbing. But your coverage has been pretty darned interesting. Keep it up.

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    A statutory requirement of “political fairness”?

    I have done a word-search of the entire code of Virginia and I cannot find the phrase “political fairness” anywhere.

    As Mr. Hall-Sizemore points out, the statute states:

    “A map of districts shall not, when considered on a statewide basis, unduly favor or disfavor any political party.

    The term is “political party”, not “politician”.

    In my opinion, including incumbent addresses as a component of redistricting completely destroys the credibility of the newly mandated process.

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