My Democratic friends often complain that the Republicans have gerrymandered us out of several seats in the South Dakota Legislature. Such complaints return my attention to a topic of frequent interest here: redistricting. This is your state's Legislative map: This…
Posts tagged as “redistricting”
Partisan redistricting has made Congress more radically partisan and less functional. In a system where the parties in power draw the boundaries, legislators choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. We get the same phenomenon in South Dakota,…
We avoided the awkward spectacle of a President losing the popular vote but winning the Electoral College. However, a similar misalignment of popular will and electoral results exists in the House of Representatives. Conservatives who want to claim that the…
The attentive Carmen and Mr. Elgersma both note that the Republicans gerrymandered Jenna Haggar out of District 15 and into District 10. My friends thus inspire me to look at the map. Here's the map of districts around Sioux Falls…
The South Dakota Legislature exerted more one-party rule yesterday, passing the Republicans' redistricting plan without amendment. Democratic Reps. Kloucek, Elliot, Wismer, Blake, Lucas, and Gibson all moved to amend the plan; all were roundly defeated on mostly party-line votes. Mea…
Frank, Frank, Frank, didn't you get the memo? Redistricting is about protecting your election prospects, not making them tougher! But in fine Frank fashion, State Representative Frank Kloucek is putting the good of the community above his own political interests.…
We have maps! The South Dakota Legislature's redistricting committee has produced two maps redrawing the boundaries of the legislative districts that will see us through the coming decade. Here's Option A from Representative Val Rausch and Senator Russell Olson: Here's…
South Dakota will recarve its Legislative districts this year. Four bills before the Legislature seek to change that process. House Bill 1075 would require that any district spanning five or more counties be divided into two single-member districts. We currently…