Some Duke mathematicians did some fascinating and depressing analysis of NC’s Congressional district maps using 2012 election results. In that election, Republicans won 9 of 13 seats (today they have 10 of 13), even though they won only 48% of the votes statewide. The mathematicians produced 100 random maps with compact districts and with same number of voters in each district. The majority of the time, their results produced 7 or 8 elected Democrats, and 95% of the time they had between 6 and 9 Democrats. Prof. Jonathan Mattingly concludes, “[Redistricting] wasn’t representative of the will of the people, and you ask yourself is this democratic? I mean if we really want to be in a democracy we should put in safeguards like we do for other things. We should put in safeguards to protect against gerrymandering in either direction. Those safeguards can be created by the General Assembly or the United States Supreme Court. As a member of the General Assembly, I’ll push to ensure that the will of the voters is respected through fair redistricting.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 21:28:48 +0000
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