Last summer, I calculated what the U.S. House of Representatives would look like if the U.S. used statewide proportional representation by party registration to elect congresscritters:
- Ain’t Representin’:There’s Only One Solution To Gerrymandering
- Ain’t Representin’ II: What Congress Would Look Like Under Proportional Representation
Last week, I updated that with a discussion of Florida:
And today we get what is definitely the smallest change but at the same time the most extreme example of gerrymandering abuse so far.
Tennessee enters the #chat.
The Tennessee legislature is, as I type this, meeting to adopt a new Congressional distract map aiming to achieve 100% Republican representation.
So, yeah; pretty damn extreme.
Tennessee, when I ran these numbers, had voter registrations of:
- 19% Democrat
- 35% Republican
- 46% Other
But it had 1 Democratic representatives and 8 Republican representatives, which is 11% Democrat, to 89% Republican.
To actually represent their voters accurately, that Congressional delegations should have been:
- 2 Democrats
- 3 Republicans
- 4 from other parties
Which is … not particularly close to 89% Republican, much less to 100%.
To say the least.
With this latest addition, I don’t see how anyone can claim with a straight face that we should keep using district-based elections.
- Still Ain’t Representin’: Florida
- Ain’t Representin’:There’s Only One Solution To Gerrymandering
- Gerrymandering: Will Making It Worse Actually Make Anything Better?
- Ain’t Representin’ II: What Congress Would Look Like Under Proportional Representation
- Democracy’s Weakness: Even Good Systems Can’t Cope With Bad Voters