Thursday, September 14, 2023

Cheating to win elections: Wisconsin GOP attempts to defend the indefensible use of cracking and packing in drawing legislative districts (Appleton part 4)

 
The 56th Assembly Districts includes all of the very conservative townships of Dale and Center, most of the Town of Grand Chute, and a cracked chunk of Appleton, a drawing designed to dilute the votes of this blue city of 74,000.

The egregious Dave Murphy has represented the district since January 2013.  Murphy defeated his Democratic opponent by 18 percentage points in November 2022.

Headline:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/2023
Map:  Wisconsin State Legislature (box added)

Somehow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tyler Katzenberger can write an article about legislative district without mentioning 'gerrymandering', 'packing', and 'cracking'.  

It's called journalistic malpractice.

The UW Applied Population Lab defines 'cracking' as 
drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive.
Th UW Applied Population Lab defines 'packing' as 
the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.


Meet the leaders of the packing and cracking brigade!


Wouldn't you rather have this diverse group in the majority?
 

Related reading:


A car caravan protest.
There has already been widespread support of ending gerrymandering in Wisconsin, Schaber said. Thursday's event is a way to raise awareness about the practice. 
According to a 2019 Marquette University Law School poll, 72% of Wisconsin voters said they would prefer redistricting of legislative and congressional districts to be done by a nonpartisan commission. 
Additionally, 51 county boards in the state have passed resolutions supporting fair maps. Seventeen counties and 18 municipalities have passed referendums asking the state Legislature to create a nonpartisan procedure for preparation of legislative and congressional plans and maps, according to the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition.

Other posts in the series:

See also:  Cheating to Win

See also:  Spotlight on Wisconsin gerrymandering


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