Gerrymandering, at a basic level, is a problem of geometry. State legislatures drawing districts to favor one party is problematic when issues like “packing” party-affiliated voters to contain them in one district or “cracking” them up into several districts to sprinkle non-sympathetic voters throughout several districts to dilute their vote arise. However, a professor of mathematics at Tufts University has created a mathematically- based strategy to bring a more fair and just political system. The strategy will precisely account for oddly shaped districts and not simply draw around groups with shared interests or form voter suppression as is done today. With this math, gerrymandering is proposed to be drawn fairly with equal representation of voters all while balancing between the traditional districting principles and producing shapes that are constitutionally fit.
Questions:
1). What are the problems with gerrymandering and is math really a solution?
2). Do you think state legislatures and mathematicians can ever work together? If not, why would they be against the cooperation?
Gerrymandering is problematic because it misrepresents the people and creates both safe seats and for a set population, groups them by their ethnicity or any way that they can in order to gain votes for a party. Because of this, parties are essentially choosing their voters to gain power and the voters are pretty much useless because results will almost always fall the way parties want. Mathematics may be the solution because it creates an area that is compact by population and cannot be "biased" because it would be based on numbers.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering goes against the democratic process and allows for representatives to pick their voters, rather than the other way around. However, Professor of Mathematics from Tufts suggests that he has created a strategy based on mathematics in order to equally and fairly draw districts. I feel that this would become problematic, as I cannot see mathematicians and politicians working together cooperatively. Mathematicians solely work with equations and numbers, while politicians constant deal with social interaction and demonstrate strong personable skills; these two completely different skill sets would not mesh well and they would experience difficulty coming to an agreement.
ReplyDeleteMathematicians would be more effective as one level of oversight for an independent commission. A boy can dream right?
ReplyDeleteThe problem with gerrymandering is that it is a perfect example of unequal representation. For example, the redistricting of the state of Ohio has made gerrymandering so obvious that in the last state legislature election, Republicans took 76% of the seats with only 51% of that state's vote. I do think that math can solve this problem because redistricting was created to split districts evenly among populations. The only way I see math being used in this process is that if the Supreme Court comes up with a solution.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with gerrymandering is that it allows representatives to choose their voters rather than voters choosing them. This is a huge flaw in the democratic process that does not allow for fair representation. I believe that geometry could solve this issue, however, getting mathematicians and state legislatures to work together may be the biggest difficulty in this solution. The legislatures will most likely not agree to work with these mathematicians because it may affect their chances in being elected into the House. This would need to be a Supreme Court ruling in order to see any change in redistricting, and even then the different characteristics of each group may still be an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with gerrymandering is that people are misrepresented so as to benefit one party, ensuring a certain number of votes, and thus seats. Using mathematics will definitely work because it causes equal representation, upholding the ideal democracy. However, with the current situation of the government, mathematics will more likely be used to increase gerrymandering. The math is doable, so that is not the issue. The issue is implementing math in a way that allows for justified representation, and with the power that the Republicans currently have they will want to keep the representation skewed in their favor. Unfortunately, they are also the ones governing the country right now.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering by nature is a problem of numbers and statistics. Mathematicians would have a huge positive benefit on the situation by proposing better district models. The idea seems very interesting and could benefit the nation's democratic image. However, this change would have to start with the voters(politicians would likely not support the use of math for better districts) and as a result would be hard to implement. If voters push hard enough to achieve better districting, a solution could be coming.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering poses a problem for local politics due to the fact that voters can be distributed in certain ways to favor a specific candidate/representative. As math has been suggested as a potential answer, several rigorous calculations would have to be executed in order to pull it off. In other words, it'd be very difficult. In my opinion, state legislatures and mathematicians would struggle to work together on this issue.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering is an inherently manipulative and unethical political tactic that drags honest citizens into a game of numbers and party polarization. Although the Big Sort gives gerrymandering an extra push, I believe that dedicated mathematicians and political scientists (an ideally neutral third party) would contribute positively to a fair redistricting process. However, I realize that there are always loopholes and that these mathematicians would have to be paid by the state or federal government, which could cause a larger problem of state vs. federal power. Although this path would be difficult, providing additional oversight to the process with mathematicians would be beneficial for the country as a whole.
ReplyDeleteGerrymandering is an issue as it completely contradicts the ideals of the American election process. Rather than having the people elect their representatives, the representatives are manipulating it so much so that it leads to a secure victory on their part. I do believe that math and geometry could serve as a solution to this problem and be a sort of oversight when the district lines are redrawn in order to ensure equality.
ReplyDeleteI think it is possible that math will solve the gerrymandering problem. At its core, math is not a politically charged science and does not take politically charged issues into account. If used correctly, it would provide a viable solution to gerrymandering. My only concern is making sure the new mathematicians are not partisan in their redistricting.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with gerrymandering is that it is a way of cheating the system of redistricting by creating an artificial balance of house seats for solely one party. If the majority of voters support one party but the representatives are not even a member of that party, it is obvious that there is a disconnect between the constituents and representation. Implementing mathematics to solve the gerrymandering problem could potentially have positive outcomes by calculating how to make every district equally represented and increase the belief that everyone's votes matter.
ReplyDelete