Monthly Archives: May 2012

City Journal: “Redistricting Wars”

 City Journal link.

Get rid of “non partisan” redistricting commissions:

“So a decade ago, Arizona voters decided to end the partisanship by removing the redistricting process from the state legislature and placing it in the hands of an independent commission. Last year, the new commission, consisting of two Democrats, two Republicans, and a nonpartisan chair, got to work on its first set of maps after the 2010 census.

Unfortunately, the results were anything but nonpartisan. The independent chair sided consistently with the two Democrats, essentially giving them control over the makeup of the congressional and state legislative maps.”

Didn’t work as advertised in California either:

” In 2008, for example, California’s Proposition 11 put state legislative redistricting in an independent commission’s hands; two years later, Proposition 20 gave the commission power over congressional redistricting as well. But Democrats hijacked the process, according to a series of investigative articles on the websites Calwatchdog and ProPublica.”

The role of Section 5 in the redistricting process leads to hyper-partisanship:

“To understand the full implications of racial gerrymandering, consider a state that lacks it: Iowa, which is 91 percent white and where no county has more than a 20 percent minority population. The state consequently doesn’t have to worry about drawing districts for the sake of electing minority representatives. Not coincidentally, Iowa also has the country’s most nonpartisan, nonpolitical redistricting process.”

Full article at link above.

City Journal: “Redistricting Wars”

 City Journal link.

Get rid of “non partisan” redistricting commissions:

“So a decade ago, Arizona voters decided to end the partisanship by removing the redistricting process from the state legislature and placing it in the hands of an independent commission. Last year, the new commission, consisting of two Democrats, two Republicans, and a nonpartisan chair, got to work on its first set of maps after the 2010 census.

Unfortunately, the results were anything but nonpartisan. The independent chair sided consistently with the two Democrats, essentially giving them control over the makeup of the congressional and state legislative maps.”

Didn’t work as advertised in California either:

” In 2008, for example, California’s Proposition 11 put state legislative redistricting in an independent commission’s hands; two years later, Proposition 20 gave the commission power over congressional redistricting as well. But Democrats hijacked the process, according to a series of investigative articles on the websites Calwatchdog and ProPublica.”

The role of Section 5 in the redistricting process leads to hyper-partisanship:

“To understand the full implications of racial gerrymandering, consider a state that lacks it: Iowa, which is 91 percent white and where no county has more than a 20 percent minority population. The state consequently doesn’t have to worry about drawing districts for the sake of electing minority representatives. Not coincidentally, Iowa also has the country’s most nonpartisan, nonpolitical redistricting process.”

Full article at link above.

Voter ID in the Bluest of Blue States: Rhode Island

 Democrats in RI tell the Story Behind Voter ID in the “Bluest” of All States

“Why did the Democratic majority legislature in Rhode Island pass a voter ID law? A recent article in the Providence Phoenix offers the real answer: there is rampant vote fraud.

Look at the long list of examples the author offers that are recounted from state legislators themselves:


- A public official was told before voting herself that she’d voted already


- An Illegal immigrant was offered documentation in exchange for impersonating voters and convincing others to impersonate voters


- A man who voted once and returned in different garb to vote again


- A voter who couldn’t spell his own name


- People who are not constituents were brought in vans to vote at the polling places


Given all this observed at the polls – coupled with the widespread popular support (Brown University poll found 85 percent of Rhode Islanders support voter ID), it’s not surprising the electoral reform commission in the state identified voter ID as a top priority, the state legislature passed the bill, and the governor signed it.”

Voter ID in the Bluest of Blue States: Rhode Island

 Democrats in RI tell the Story Behind Voter ID in the “Bluest” of All States

“Why did the Democratic majority legislature in Rhode Island pass a voter ID law? A recent article in the Providence Phoenix offers the real answer: there is rampant vote fraud.

Look at the long list of examples the author offers that are recounted from state legislators themselves:


- A public official was told before voting herself that she’d voted already


- An Illegal immigrant was offered documentation in exchange for impersonating voters and convincing others to impersonate voters


- A man who voted once and returned in different garb to vote again


- A voter who couldn’t spell his own name


- People who are not constituents were brought in vans to vote at the polling places


Given all this observed at the polls – coupled with the widespread popular support (Brown University poll found 85 percent of Rhode Islanders support voter ID), it’s not surprising the electoral reform commission in the state identified voter ID as a top priority, the state legislature passed the bill, and the governor signed it.”