9 ms·

Troubled funding for the census leads to easier gerrymandering. Today had been full of surprises.

andrewl 9y ago
That was my immediate thought as well.
Spooky23 9y ago
That's the Trump MO. They drop something big like the FBI director that they have in the bullpen to overshadow another turd like this. Underfunding the census directly hurts the democrats, as urban areas always need more human outreach than the burbs, whose residents dutifully fill out their surveys. It's not just gerrymandering, its outright warfare. Census numbers drive things like sales tax distribution, school aid, and local government aid too. The strategy here is to starve out democratic strongholds.
- zanny 9y ago
  There have been confessions dating back to the Nixon administration of war like tactics to directly harm the democratic base (and plenty more before him). It is not new, they can just be more blatant the more drawn the partisan lines are into independent isolated silos. After all, what are republicans distraught by this behavior going to do? Side with the enemy, whose ideals their culture have defined as not just wrong but evil? Or in the inverse, is a liberal dissatisfied with the democrats behavior going to side with those whom the left deem imbeciles and tyrants? We saw in this last election what voter disdain in the major parties causes. A bunch of third party votes, some minor protests that the media systemically silenced or condemned, that still pale next to the structural rigidity of first past the post and a firmly established ideological divide meant to keep the poor fighting amongst themselves.
- refurb 9y ago
  as urban areas always need more human outreach than the burbs I would disagree as others have pointed out. It's the rural folks who couldn't care less that need to be tracked down. A single person could easily canvass an entire neighborhood in a large city. And I think the comment about dropping the big news at a convenient time is something every politician does. How many times have you seen announcements by the gov't go out on a Friday afternoon? Avoid media attention!!
- paulddraper 9y ago
  > urban areas always need more human outreach Um, what? It's the rural areas that are a nightmare. I lived in a rural area during the last census, and they had to go all out if they wanted to count every cabin and cottage. I'd much prefer to be assigned to 100 people in a city. They'd probably all be the same apartment complex.
BurningFrog 9y ago
It does? How?
- harryh 9y ago
  Indeed I don't think these two issues are related. The data used to gerrymander is results of previous elections and party registration information. The ability to gerrymander is based on party control of state governments. Neither of these things have anything to do with the census.
  - John23832 9y ago
    Population distribution is discovered through census data. That is what is used for redistricting. Not the previous election.
    - harryh 9y ago
      If all you have to go on is population distribution you wouldn't be able to effectively gerrymander. You don't need to just know how people are distributed, you need to know who they are likely to vote for in an election.
      - John23832 9y ago
        > You don't need to just know how people are distributed, you need to know who they are likely to vote for in an election. That's not how gerrymandering is used. Gerrymandering as a practice targets minorities. It's based on (highly) educated guesses. You take a minority population center and draw the district lines through it, bisecting the voting power of the population. What would be one whole voting block in one district is not split over N districts (N districts with large Republican populations). Minorities are more likely to vote (D)emocrat. Republicans get so few minority votes that it doesn't matter where a republican minority votes. Their vote is good in any district. Going back to the census, if you don' have adequate funding for the census, then some districts will be underfunded. Underfunding generally means an undercount, not an over count. If you underfund (and undercount) minority districts it's easier to redraw the districting lines to break up the minority district and include them in the surrounding districts.
abandonliberty 9y ago
I'm mostly surprised that it took this long. Crippling the census should be a high priority in information warfare.

That was my immediate thought as well.

That's the Trump MO. They drop something big like the FBI director that they have in the bullpen to overshadow another turd like this. Underfunding the census directly hurts the democrats, as urban areas always need more human outreach than the burbs, whose residents dutifully fill out their surveys. It's not just gerrymandering, its outright warfare. Census numbers drive things like sales tax distribution, school aid, and local government aid too. The strategy here is to starve out democratic strongholds.

zanny 9y ago
There have been confessions dating back to the Nixon administration of war like tactics to directly harm the democratic base (and plenty more before him). It is not new, they can just be more blatant the more drawn the partisan lines are into independent isolated silos. After all, what are republicans distraught by this behavior going to do? Side with the enemy, whose ideals their culture have defined as not just wrong but evil? Or in the inverse, is a liberal dissatisfied with the democrats behavior going to side with those whom the left deem imbeciles and tyrants? We saw in this last election what voter disdain in the major parties causes. A bunch of third party votes, some minor protests that the media systemically silenced or condemned, that still pale next to the structural rigidity of first past the post and a firmly established ideological divide meant to keep the poor fighting amongst themselves.
refurb 9y ago
as urban areas always need more human outreach than the burbs I would disagree as others have pointed out. It's the rural folks who couldn't care less that need to be tracked down. A single person could easily canvass an entire neighborhood in a large city. And I think the comment about dropping the big news at a convenient time is something every politician does. How many times have you seen announcements by the gov't go out on a Friday afternoon? Avoid media attention!!
paulddraper 9y ago
> urban areas always need more human outreach Um, what? It's the rural areas that are a nightmare. I lived in a rural area during the last census, and they had to go all out if they wanted to count every cabin and cottage. I'd much prefer to be assigned to 100 people in a city. They'd probably all be the same apartment complex.

BurningFrog 9y ago

It does? How?

harryh 9y ago
Indeed I don't think these two issues are related. The data used to gerrymander is results of previous elections and party registration information. The ability to gerrymander is based on party control of state governments. Neither of these things have anything to do with the census.
- John23832 9y ago
  Population distribution is discovered through census data. That is what is used for redistricting. Not the previous election.
  - harryh 9y ago
    If all you have to go on is population distribution you wouldn't be able to effectively gerrymander. You don't need to just know how people are distributed, you need to know who they are likely to vote for in an election.
    - John23832 9y ago
      > You don't need to just know how people are distributed, you need to know who they are likely to vote for in an election. That's not how gerrymandering is used. Gerrymandering as a practice targets minorities. It's based on (highly) educated guesses. You take a minority population center and draw the district lines through it, bisecting the voting power of the population. What would be one whole voting block in one district is not split over N districts (N districts with large Republican populations). Minorities are more likely to vote (D)emocrat. Republicans get so few minority votes that it doesn't matter where a republican minority votes. Their vote is good in any district. Going back to the census, if you don' have adequate funding for the census, then some districts will be underfunded. Underfunding generally means an undercount, not an over count. If you underfund (and undercount) minority districts it's easier to redraw the districting lines to break up the minority district and include them in the surrounding districts.

abandonliberty 9y ago

I'm mostly surprised that it took this long. Crippling the census should be a high priority in information warfare.