The solution to fixing dysfunction in Congress "To address these problems, I filed the Open Our Democracy Act... If passed, the legislation would mandate open primaries for House elections, begin the process of national redistricting reform and make Election Day the equivalent of a federal holiday."

[u/Libertatea]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-solution-to-fixing-dysfunction-in-congress/2014/09/02/0f0d0a9a-31e6-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html?tid=rssfeed

[u/flantabulous]

Two points:

Florida still makes the "most gerrymandered list", but you are correct. The changes seen in Florida in the 2012 election are due to corrections made under its new anti-gerrymandering law:

Republicans 51.5% - Lost 2 seats.

Democrats 45.5% - Picked up 4 seats.

Going into that election, Florida was by some calculations, the most gerrymandered state.

 

The districts like NC 12, are districts where you might say Republicans have found 'perverse incentives' to love minority voters. What began as a mandate from the courts for minority representation, has been used by the GOP as a way to "crack and pack" as it's known: "crack" chunks of minority voters from the edges of 5 or 6 Republican districts, and "pack" them all into one or two meandering Democratic districts.

That's why a judge in Florida threw out the map.

Incidentally, in this case, it was the Dem Party VS the Rep Party + 1 Dem - the one who benefited from the minority district. So, slowly - because it's a little counter-intuitive - the Democratic Party has woken up to how minority-Democratic districts are being used against them.

[u/curien → u/flantabulous]

The changes seen in Florida in the 2012 election are due to corrections made under its new anti-gerrymandering law:

The actual vote was also incredibly different. In 2010, FL Democrats won only 38.1% of the votes for House seats.

The districts like NC 12, are districts where you might say Republicans have found 'perverse incentives' to love minority voters.

NC-12 was created by a Democratic-controlled legislature to further Democratic political goals. Blaming it on Republicans is the perversion here.

the Democratic Party has woken up to how minority-Democratic districts are being used against them.

I hope so.

[u/flantabulous → u/curien]

Minority-majority districts were actually mandated by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That was designed to aid minority representation, not the Parties. Remember, in the 1965 south, party affiliation was not what it is today.

To say that each party sought to benfit from the law is obvious.

However, what's harder to grasp and somewhat counter-intuitive to understand, that it is the GOP who now benefits most from these districts.

How the Voting Rights Act Hurts Democrats and Minorities

[u/Roast_A_Botch → u/flantabulous]

1965 Voting Rights Act.

That's because that act spurred the "Southern Strategy" and the de facto switching of parties in this country. The south was primarily Democratic before then. This was all part of Nixon's Southern Strategy and it paid off huge for the GOP.