I don't know if folks have been following this story about the redistricting fight that's going on in Texas right now, but it's pretty scary in my opinion. I'll try and quickly summarize what it's about.
Intro: Why districts matter
As you recall, Bush lost the overall majority in the most recent election, but still won the Presidency. This is because voting is tabulated by district and then those districts “vote” to make the final decision; variations in dictrict borders can dramatically alter the final outcome, especially in close elections.In the example below, I've drawn a voting pattern that represents an overall vote of 8 Republicans and 10 Democrats, split into three voting districts. In the layout on the left, it results in a 2:1 victory for the Democrats, but in the example on the right it results in a 2:1 victory for the Republicans. Same votes, massively different outcome.
What's Going On
The Republican government in Texas is seeking to restructure the districts in order to shift the current congressional delegation from a 17:15 Democrat majority to a 10:22 Republican majority. Because the Texas senate is a Republican majority, they can push this through without the Democrats being able to do much about it, essentially manipulating the process in order to guarantee continued power with or without true public support.However, in order for a vote to be valid, at least 2/3 of senators must cast their votes. In order to block this from happening, the Democrats have simply walked out and are refusing to vote. As a retaliation, the Republicans have called for all dissenting Democrats to be arrested and put in prison.
How messed up is that? If you are a politician and you object to the ruling party screwing over you and your constituents, they can actually arrest you? Anyway, a couple more recent links on this story (although you can go to Google News and type in “Texas Quorum” for more):
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