Chris Johnson
Fulton
wrote
In this day and age, virtually all redistricting done by people is by
definition corrupt in my view.
There's no reason why it can't be done by a computer program, using GIS
and
census data -- but without any political affiliation data. We would end
up
with political-party neutral, and much fairer districts.
But I know it's not going to happen in my lifetime. Politicians are too
self-centered to actually put the public first.
Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson
replied
That just changes the issue to "who gets hired to write that
computer program?"
The votes in Ohio last year were "counted" by a neutral, non-human
computer system, remember?
Designed by Diebold, chaired by Bush's state campaign committee chair.
The Ohio Diebold problem was with the actual election. Redistricting is
about trying to stack the polls ahead of time by forming precincts with
majorities of potential voters. The population of a precinct, ward or
congressional district is mandated by law and redrawn after each census.
That redrawing can create real pockets of voting power as was shown by the
unscrupulous tactics of Tom DeLay and the Texas republicans. Having a
computer generate voting districts based soley on geographical location and
number of people with as little change as possible from decade to decade
will eliminate the blatant gerrymandering that has been going on since the
whole process began.
Steven M Nelson
Willard Hay
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If
you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL
PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
