With the 2020 census, states will be redefining districts for representatives. There is a bill in the Senate to end gerrymandering and require non-partisan groups to define districts. Call your senators today and insist they vote to pass the comprehensive democracy reform bill. This may be our last chance to keep a democracy.
It's not the bill, but this article describes the bill. I'll see if I can find the verbiage. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/why-people-act-critical-fair-voting-maps
Oh, here it is. That was easier than I thought it might be. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/text?format=txt
The bill has three different divisions. voting campaign finance ethics The first, voting, addresses Republican efforts to suppress minority votes by removing obstacles and ensuring citizens who want to vote *can* vote. Long list is in the link. The second, campaign finance, requires all contributors must be named, effectively ending "dark money" The third, ethics, addresses bribery - much like the sunshine act that *I* have to follow, this requires politicians to disclose any "gifts" or compensation (free ivy league college for children, for example), thus allowing transparency when ruling in favor of wealthy defendants/plaintiffs over poorer defendants/plaintiffs.
There's no such thing as a "nonpartisan group." But agree with the basic point, gerrymandering has got to go. Personally I'd like to see Congressional districts drawn by automated means, with no consideration other than geographical area and population. Make the districts as neutral as possible.
Actually, there is such a thing as "nonpartisan group". In fact, there are hundreds, if not thousands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nonpartisan_organizations_in_the_United_States
The NRA may have registered as a non partisan organization - and, to be fair, at it's inception, it was. But, don't even try to act as if it hasn't pandered to the Republican base for the last 40 years. That's disingenuous and ... 10 years ago would have thought beneath you.
What is the point? That no groups can be non partisan? Just because the NRA lies it's fucking ass off doesn't mean the others do.
@Jenee: A lot of the groups in that list are in fact hyper partisan. @Paladin's point is that just because a group labels itself as nonpartisan, that doesn't always translate to being nonpartisan in practice. I disagree that an organization can never be nonpartisan, but a lot of those are bad examples.
As for this bill, it sounds good in principle. I'll have to take a look at it. States like California have already been doing more nonpartisan computer-guided district drawing to great success.
That's just the first thing that came up in a google search. I didn't delve any deeper than "nonpartisan groups". But, they are out there.
Many states have adopted various parts of the "For The People Act". This is one that has been submitted at a federal level. It's not the first. But, as decisions based on the 2020 census are about to be made, this one is ... kind of urgent. You know ..., if one cares.
I'm sure a whole lot of them claim to be "nonpartisan" and even title themselves that way on official paperwork, but in the real world there's no such thing. Everyone has biases.
"Being a non-partisan congressional map drawer must pay pretty good judging from all the Lambos in the parking lot."
I once argued with one of my brothers that there are no non-special interest groups. Any group that exists to advance its interests through changes in the law is a special interest.
So @Lanzman , @Paladin , and @Uncle Albert are all trying to distract and say that voting has to be partisan because it is the only way they can cheat the overwhelming majority of voters. Still, it will never make 60 votes in the senate. I could call Rubio and Scott all day long and they will never vote for it. We could not even get 50 votes because munchkin and sinema will never vote for it. It would be great to have a vote for it to show who needs to be voted out, but even then the dems are all for the guy who's motto was nothing will change. The Biden Bros had a world shaking meltdown because he stopped their afganistan death fest. Nothing will ever change when you keep on voting for the corrupt right wing of either party.
I'm all for it, but it isn't as easy to implement as many suggest. In an ideal world, there would be a mathematical equation for the number of people allowed in each district, with not too much difference in numbers between them all. Are we still drawing to make sure that minority districts exist or not? Will we be drawing lines thru those communities? If not, how many non-colored communities will be allowed to be lumped in with them? Everyone makes a big fuss about the way lines are drawn but when you actually look at it closely it's not as cut and dry as many think. Not to mention it's the federal government telling states how to draw their congressional lines which I'm sure would be challenged in court.
Well, on that last point, U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton could be held up as precedent for the idea that the federal government can determine rules for the election of federal representatives. Plus, a whole bunch of federal campaign finance laws.
The most populous state in the union corrected gerrymandering just fine, almost 10 years running now. But then again, we don't have meth in our drinking water like Florida....
