this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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[–] arc99@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago

Most sane countries leave electoral boundaries to an independent commission

[–] kalistia@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago
[–] Dorkyd68@lemmy.world 15 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

I will never understand how the highest number of votes isn't winning. Bucha cheatin ass bitches

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[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Number 2 is the actual ideal, not number 1. Number 1 represents, "good," gerrymandering that politicians argue for, but it really only serves them. They get to keep highly partisan electorate that will reelect them no matter what, which means they can be less responsive to the will of their voters. They only have to worry about primary challengers, which aren't very common, and can mostly ignore their electorate without issue.

It's also important to note that this diagram is an oversimplification that can't express the nuances of an actual electorate. While a red and blue binary might be helpful for this example, a plurality of voters identify as independents, and while most of them have preferences towards the right or left, they are movable. The point is that actual voters are more nuanced and less static than this representation.

Number 2 is how distracting would work in an ideal world; it doesn't take into account political alignment at all, but instead just groups people together by proximity. A red victory is unlikely, but still possible if the blue candidate doesn't deliver for his constituents and winds up with low voter turnout. It also steers politicians away from partisan extremism, as they may need to appeal to a non-partisan plurality. That being said, when literal fascists are attempting number 3, we'll have to respond in kind if we want any chance of maintaining our democracy, but in the long term, the solution is no gerrymandering, not, "perfect representation," gerrymandering.

[–] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 28 minutes ago

2 and 3 are indistinguishable if you don't take political alignment into account. What counts as a line or a column in real life? You need to group/sort people by something in order to draw any of those lines.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

the fascists aren't attempting 3, they've already been doing it for decades. now they just want to do even more, because it's open fascism season so why be coy about it.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Everyone's been doing either one or three for decades, the fascists are just more effective at it. What's changed is that they're doing it in a non-census year with the explicit goal of changing the outcome of the 2026 midterms. The only states with have unbiased districts are the places where people have passed ballot measures against partisan districting, but Democrats have been just as happy as Republicans to pull this shit.

[–] SuperCub@sh.itjust.works 40 points 20 hours ago (5 children)

It's almost like the idea that representation based on land instead of based on people is flawed to begin with.

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[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 20 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

Where do we draw the line?

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I say #2, specifically because it can be done mathematically, as opposed to trying to agree on some definition of "fairness" that isn't completely different for every office and doesn't have to be wholly redistricted every election as a consequence.

Say, something like least split line. Basically, if you have an even number of seats for a region, draw the shortest length line that splits the region into two regions of equal population. If you have an odd number of seats > 1, then draw the shortest line that splits the region based on number per seat given one side gets the "extra" seat (for example, for 5 seats you'd split so that one side is 2/3 of the other side and give 3 seats to one side and 2 to the other). Repeat the process for each region created by these lines until each region represents one seat. If there are multiple shortest lines, you the one closest to a NS axis. The extra seat always goes to the west side of the line.

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[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 29 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

The United States is not a nation anymore. It’s a corporation. It’s also 100% corrupt. When will people come to terms with this? As long as most people are in denial of this, it will always be so.

[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Fun fact, the term for running a nation like a corporation is fascism.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 1 points 14 minutes ago

Well it’s already been this way for like 20 years almost. It’s been forming for many decades, but it’s a done deal.

[–] 3x3@lemy.lol 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You guys are entering the late decadence phase as already experienced in the Roman Empire

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

Anything to undermine democracy

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[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 48 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I've said it many times, the US is a model example of what not to do in so so many different ways.

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[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 12 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

This is kinda if topic, but why does the US have term limits for the presidency, but not all the other major positions?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago

They focussed more on term length

  • House: two years for frequent turnover, voice of the people
  • Senate: 6 years for stability, maturity
  • judges: lifetime, for independence from who appointed them and from politics of the day

While these don’t seem to be working right, anyone proposing changes needs to understand what they were trying to do and not make it worse trying to fix another aspect

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 10 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

In the original Constitution, there are no limits for any of them. George Washington made it a tradition not to seek a third term, but it wasn't actually enshrined into law until ~150 years later.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 10 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

It was invented because FDR was so popular that without that rule, his bones would probably still be president to this day.

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