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Day 5 - Cracking and Packing: Districting in the House
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Transcript of Day 5 - Cracking and Packing: Districting in the House
DAY 5 – CRACKING AND PACKING – DISTRICTING IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 2, 2013
Announcements
Tomorrow’s readings Read Sides’ “Gerrymandering is not what’s
wrong with American Politics” DO NOT READ Abramowitz et al.
I will send out a poll this afternoon for you to rank order your preferences for the legislative portfolio project. Let me know if you are going to pair up with
someone. Let me know your top 5 states. I will use a sophisticated algorithm to assign a
state to your group.
In the News - VRA Ruling
What is the Voting Rights Act? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpI1YuyMCKY House vote - http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h87
What did the courts rule on? http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2012/2012_12_96
“Section 4 of the VRA creates a formula that determines what states should be subject to Section 5, which requires states to submit any changes to election or voting laws, alterations of state legislative or congressional district lines, to the Justice Dept. for Approval. (That process is commonly known as pre-clearance.) That formula was – until today – based on a) states that had used some form of ballot test (literacy being the main one) to determine whether people can vote and b) whether less than 50 percent of eligible voters were registered to vote by November 1964.” Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/06/25/what-the-voting-rights-act-decision-means-for-politics/
Are people paying attention to this ruling (and others)? Not really.
http://www.people-press.org/2013/07/01/public-divided-over-same-sex-marriage-rulings/
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/06/25/what-the-voting-rights-act-decision-means-for-politics/
Constitutional Qualifications for Holding Office
Age (25 for House, 30 for Senate) Citizenship (7 years for House, 9 years for Senate) Residency (In the state from which the
officeholder is elected)
Can states add to these qualifications? U.S. Term Limits versus Thornton http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1994/1994_93_
1456#sort=vote
Do representatives have to live in their district? No. Morgan Griffith “Residency” ad -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqPvjecs-A
Senate Apportionment
“One of the most malapportioned legislatures in the democratic world.” 9 largest states – 51% of population
18% of representation in Senate 26 smallest states – 18% of population
52% of representation
House Apportionment
The Method of Equal Proportions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUCn
b5_HZc0 2010 Census
http://www.census.gov/population/apportionment/files/Priority%20Values%202010.pdf
Last in – Minnesota (8) First out – North Carolina
Would have earned a 14th seat in Congress if they had 15,734 more residents.
Size of Congress Over Time Congress could
not agree on an apportionment strategy after 1920 census. Self-interest Practical
Concerns Reapportionme
nt Act of 1929 locks Congressional size at 435
Data collected from U.S. Census Bureau
Geographic Trends Apportionment
Over Time http://www.census
.gov/2010census/data/
Continued
population decline in Northeast and Midwest.
Population growth in the West and Sun Belt
Data collected from U.S. Census Bureau
Data collected from U.S. Census Bureau
Districting in the House
Voting Rights Act of 1965 Requires states to not dilute the
representation of racial minorities. Single-member districts
1967 law (PL 90-196) prohibited at-large and other multi-member elections by states with more than one House seat. Only affected 2 states – HI and NM Anticipated a concern that southern states might
move to this strategy. http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=526
Malapportionment
“The silent gerrymander” Motivated by:
Racism Rural bias
Reynolds v. Sims (1964) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/righ
ts/landmark_reynolds.html
2012 Electoral Map
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/republican-vote-rigging-electoral-college_n_2546010.html
Electoral College Reform
Nebraska and Maine Winner of state’s popular vote gets 2 electoral
votes. Winner gets 1 electoral vote per Congressional
district won.
Seats Gained Under New Plan
Romney Gains Obama Gains
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/republican-vote-rigging-electoral-college_n_2546010.html
Results If Plan Were Adopted Nationwide
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/republican-vote-rigging-electoral-college_n_2546010.html
Gerrymandering
District line-drawing that purposefully maximizes seats for one party or voting bloc.
Types of gerrymandering Partisan Pro-Incumbent Majority-minority
Majority-Minority Districts
Before VRA, “blacks were systematically ‘packed’ into or ‘cracked’ across congressional districts to weaken their influence” (DOL p.53)
What are the pros and cons of majority-minority districts?
How have the courts ruled?
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/since-1982-minority-congressional-districts-have-tripled-graphic-20120413
North Carolina 4th District
Source: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/NC/4
Maryland 3rd
Source: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/MD/3
Texas 27th
Source: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TX/27
Texas 23rd
Source: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/TX/23