Hello all!
Hope your summer is going well!
I thought we might kick off tomorrow night's discussion around Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering, as you my know, happens when a congressional district boundaries are changed for political gain.
One of the most well known cases happened in 2003, when the Texas Republican controlled legislature changed the boundaries of the congressional districts to be even more Republican! If you recall, the Democrats in the Legislature took off--out of state--to prevent a vote. Tom DeLay sent US Marshalls' to find them and bring them back--which they did. The Redistricting Plan passed in the fall of 2003.
Gerrymandering is used whenever and wherever elections are held. In the age of computers, however, it has taken on a new life of its own; mapping and GIS programs allow for manipulation to occur once unimaginable.
On Monday, a game developed by students at the University of Southern California debuts on the web. It shows how easily Gerrymandering is used to solidify congressional offices for a partisan purpose. If you have time on Monday, you can play the game at http://www.redistrictinggame.org/.
For some general information on Gerrymandering, Wikipedia has an excellent article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering
Hope to see you tomorrow night, 7:00, at the Tumwater Valley Bar and Grill!
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