Well, here’s some good breaking news from the federal courts today, for fans of democracy anyway…
Although this will permit the 2014 elections to be run under the old maps, new maps must be in place by 2016 (assuming, of course, that this decision is not reversed on appeal). As Virginia currently has a Democratic governor, Gov. Terry McAuliffe will be able to veto any plan which is unfair to his fellow Democrats, while the GOP-controlled legislature will no doubt push for a map that serves Republican interests. Because the current maps favor Republicans so strongly, however, the likely result will be maps that are much more favorable to Democrats.
See the rest of Ian Millhiser’s coverage for much more, including his calculus that new, appropriately drawn Congressional maps in VA will likely result in a Democratic pick-up of 2 to 3 seats in the U.S. House of Represenatives in 2016.
It’s pretty simple with modern computers to draw district lines impartially, without regard to class, race, or party, but that’s not on the table because the political types who complain about gerrymandering always want a LITTLE gerrymandering. Just not that other kind of gerrymandering they don’t like.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2011/...redistricting/
http://rangevoting.org/Splitline2009/ca.png
http://bdistricting.com/2010/CA_Congress/map.png