Monday, October 23, 2023

Cheating to win elections: Wisconsin GOP defends the use of cracking and packing in drawing legislative districts (Green Bay edition)

 
The population of Green Bay is 107,114 (2020), enough to fill one full and most of a second compact Assembly district, all the while preserving a community of interest.  The population of Brown County is 264,660 (2020) enough to fill 4 compact districts and half of an adjoining one, perhaps shared with a portion of Oconto County.

Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay) has represented the 90th district since January 2021.  She defeated her Republican challenger by 18 percentage points.

Despite the compactness of the district -- it is an urban area, after all -- there are plenty of GOP gerrymandering curiosities in the Exact-O knife details.

Headline:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/11/2023

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.

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Meet the leaders of the packing and cracking brigade!


Wouldn't you rather have this diverse group in the majority?  They support fair maps.
 


Other posts in the series:

See also:  Wisconsin Gerrymandering Spotlight, round 2

See also:  Spotlight on Wisconsin gerrymandering

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