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13 May, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Sigh. Oklahoma GOP legislators passed their legislative gerrymanders with most Dems voting for them just like they did last decade (story doesn't say if Dems got anything for it), which the GOP will undoubtedly use to argue in bad faith that they didn't gerrymander any districts
This is something that happens from time to time: Democrats in particular are more likely than the GOP to support the other side's gerrymander if the GOP gives certain Dems districts that they like even if they have no hope of winning significant power. Happened in Ohio in 2011
Oklahoma Republicans passed these new legislative gerrymanders using population data estimates since the 2020 census data won't be available until mid-August, risking a lawsuit, though they say could revise them later with hard census data if necessary to equalize populations
Update: GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed the Oklahoma GOP's new legislative gerrymanders into law, making OK the 1st state to pass redistricting maps after the 2020 census. GOP lawmakers could tweak them later this year once hard census counts are available

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More from @PoliticsWolf

Stephen Wolf Profile picture
30 Apr
Terrible news for American democracy: Joe Manchin becomes the first Senate Democrat to come out against the #DCstatehood bill, ensuring that 700,000 citizens remain disenfranchised & increasing the likelihood of a return to GOP Senate minority rule washingtonpost.com/local/dc-polit…
Because of how the states were drawn & malapportioned, the Senate imposes a huge penalty against Black, urban, & Dem voters like those in D.C. The GOP has run the Senate most of the time since the late 1990s despite never winning more votes than Dems once
Dems represent >56% of the U.S. population despite holding just half the Senate seats. We're stuck in a democratic doom loop where our lack of fair elections makes it impossible to make elections fairer. Manchin's vote wouldn't be needed if the Senate didn't already penalize Dems
Read 6 tweets
Stephen Wolf Profile picture
26 Apr
Happy census day! In two hours, the census will release 2020 state population counts, revealing which states will gain/lose congressional seats & Electoral College votes in reapportionment.

As a preview, here's what the 2020 estimates showed, but several states are on the bubble
While this data will tell us how many congressional seats each state gets, we still won't know how the population within states has been redistributed until the census publishes census block-level data in August, when redistricting will begin in earnest
We'll update these maps once the 2020 reapportionment numbers are out, but these cartograms based on 2019 pop estimates show the partisan control over 2020s congressional & legislative redistricting. GOP is set to draw 2-3 times as many districts as Dems dailykos.com/stories/2020/1…
Read 13 tweets
Stephen Wolf Profile picture
15 Apr
By leaving OR Dems in charge of legislative but not congressional redistricting, this doesn't actually lead to less-gerrymandered outcomes. If GOP blocks Dems from gerrymandering Congress in blue states while GOP still does it in many states, the overall map's GOP bias gets worse
Asking Dems to unilaterally not gerrymander blue states for Congress while GOP keeps doing it is like asking Electoral College foes to give blue state electoral votes to the popular vote winner regardless of what red states do.

National solutions are needed & being pushed for
Unfortunately, yes. It's the same logic as ending winner-take-all Electoral College allocation.

That only applies to Congress, though. There's no similar justification for passing legislative gerrymanders for partisan advantage, & Dems in power should pass fair legislative maps
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Wolf Profile picture
6 Apr
Colorado (Dem-run of course) is arguably the best state for making it easy to vote. They have automatic & same-day voter registration, universal vote-by-mail, & numerous countywide vote centers where any person in a county may vote in-person on Election Day or during early voting
Gerrymandering hasn't gotten as much publicity in 2021 yet as GOP voting restrictions have, but another biggie is Colorado has independent redistricting commissions while Georgia GOP is about to viciously gerrymander again. CO stands head & shoulders above GA for fair elections
CO vs GA voting law

CO registration deadline Election Day; GA 28 days prior
CO requests (non-photo) ID, not requires; GA strictly requires photo ID
CO votes near 100% by mail, so voting lines are nonexistent; GA must request mail vote
CO lets probation/parolees vote;, GA doesn't
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Wolf Profile picture
26 Mar
Grotesque. Michigan GOP has won gerrymandered majorities despite Dems getting more votes this whole decade. Thus, GOP lawmakers can just pass new voting limits ahead of Whitmer's 2022 election if activists gather ballot measure signatures, no public vote needed or veto possible
Michigan voters approved a ballot initiative creating an independent redistricting commission in 2018, but because it won't draw new districts until the 2022 elections, the pernicious effects of two decades of GOP gerrymandering are still being felt & undermining democracy
Fortunately, though, one huge difference between right now & previous years is that Dems gained a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court in 2020, which could then use the voting rights protections found in the state constitution to strike down new voting restrictions
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Wolf Profile picture
25 Mar
Georgia state House GOP passed a sweeping new voting restriction bill. Among its many provisions, it tries to force more people to vote in person by making it harder to vote by mail & also makes it a crime to give food & water to voters standing in line. Just blatant suppression
Georgia Republicans could not be more blatant with their intent to deter Black voters from voting
The most prominent Democratic election lawyer in the country promises a lawsuit once Georgia Republicans pass their new voting restriction bill
Read 9 tweets

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