Buster Takes On Redistricting

Here in the good ol' USA, we periodically engage in a peculiar political process known as "congressional redistricting." This results when census data shows a significant change in a state's population, and the number of that state's delegates to the U.S. House of Representatives goes either up or down.

We're doing it now in Ohio. We lost population and, hence, two seats in Congress. We're going from 18 to 16 Representatives. This requires the map of our congressional districts to be redrawn. And traditionally, the party in power will draw the new map in the way most advantageous to itself, while maintaining some small semblance of fairness and legality.

The new breed of R's here in Ohio have forgotten that last part. Their new map (passed yesterday by the Ohio House and soon to rubber-stamped by the Senate) establishes a new low in self-serving sliminess. The 16 new districts, shown above, are a vile tour de force in gerrymandering. Objective analysts have concluded that it will likely yield two to four Ohio Democrats in the next Congress, with 12 to 14 being served on a platter to the Republicans.

The most egregious example is probably my own 15th District, which snakes around central and southern Ohio while avoiding those precincts filled with distasteful minorities. This all but guarantees that I'll continue to be mis-represented by that rigid asshole Steve Stivers. Goody.

Yes, both parties do this shit, but it's never been this blatantly out of balance before. There's gotta be a better way.

Buster offers two alternative maps. They're arbitrary, which can't be avoided, but neither is in any way politically motivated. Both are simple attempts to be geographically even-handed, period. Geography seems to me to be as good a factor as anything else. My maps took me about ten minutes, and I guarantee either one would result in more fairness, more competitiveness, and more true representation than anything either party could come up with, and certainly more than that vile abomination foisted upon us by the Ohio GOP.

Map A -- County-based districts
There are 88 counties in Ohio and 16 districts. Do the math and that's 5-and-a-half counties per district. I started the map in the northwest and proceeded left to right, then down. If I had to cut your county in half, I'm sorry.
















Map B -- Grid-based districts
For this one, I overlaid a 4-by-4 grid in such a way as to make sure at least some territory was covered by each of the 16 boxes. True, the northwest, southwest, and southeast districts are noticeably smaller, but that's what you get for living in the corners. Many of those people believe they're living in Michigan or Kentucky or West Virginia anyway. If you don't like it, tilt the grid in the other direction.










That was fun! Quick, easy, and better than any "professional" redistricting.






***UPDATE ALERT***
A detailed map in the Sunday paper showed that, per the R's new map, Buster resides in the new District 3, one of the few supposedly "guaranteed" Democratic districts. While I'll be happy to be free of the blockhead Steve Stivers, it's still cold comfort, knowing how the R's have stacked the deck.

***UPDATE ALERT CORRECTION***
I was wrong about being in District 3.  Then for awhile I thought I'd now be in District 12 with Pat Tiberi, another R stooge.  Turns out I'm still in District 15 with Stivers.  Oh, well.