Signs of life in Maryland

[Gutenberg]

Previous Maryland congressional district map: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/MD

Gerrymandered Maryland congressional district map: http://planning.maryland.gov/Redistricti...IMap.shtml

See that big wad of the DC suburbs that got moved into the Sixth? That big wad of DC suburbs has nothing in common with Western Maryland except that all of them pay taxes to the state. But the big wad will balance out most of the rural voters in Western Maryland.

That's disenfranchisement.

[August West]

Comparing gerrymandering to cloud seeding is a bit of a stretch.

ETA: Bringing up the image of "whiny little wimps" does not mitigate the existence of disenfranchised populations in this country, either.

[Black]

cbelt3 wrote:
OMG ! You mean Democrats actually engage in Gerrymandering too ? (Like the Republicans did in Ohio to rid the House of Dennis Kucinich ? )

It depends on how you define "democrats." Here within Chicago city limits you just kind of "have" to be a democrat regardless of what your actual political leanings are. So the label ends up being fairly meaningless; no shortage of Chicago office holders with a "D" after their names who behave like your team :-)

[$tevie]

I don't know how you can stop all the absurd gerrymandering since I imagine it's all part and parcel of state's rights, so the Federal Govt can't set any requirements. But it sure is irritating, especially when it's absolutely known by one and all what is being done and why.

BTW, the clip art next to "Find a Senator or Representative" is hilarious. It makes you want to NOT find them. LOL.

[hal]

While I agree that the proposed map is clear gerrymandering... the old one isn't much better. here's a close-up of the map linked above:


MD4 is unnaturally split into two barely connected pieces... MD1 seems to be all over the place...

this is the 3rd - completely unnatural:

[$tevie]

That shape reminds me of the original gerrymander:

[hal]

Actually... on close inspection, this is clearly a trade of the old gerrymandering for new. How could anyone claim that the current map is anything but scam?

Part of the first district is connected literally by a bridge...


and so is the 2nd - these maps are obscene!

[$tevie]

It's madness.

[Gutenberg]

As far as the First and Second go, if you are familiar with Maryland politics you can see that there is some political homogeneity there. I agree that the Third is just weird--basically they wanted three reps with responsibility in Baltimore City. And the shape of Maryland is a little weird to begin with.

But that portion of Montgomery County was put in the Sixth solely to flip the district Democratic. Dirty pool.

[mattkime]

i once disenfranchised a man just to see what it felt like