Gerrymandering skill

It is a little disappointing, as you editorialized, that a Fair Maps referendum was not put on the November ballot. On the other hand, I wonder what practical effect redistricting would have in Illinois. The concern with the present gerrymandered legislative districts is that it gives an advantage, in terms of seats won, to the political party that draws the maps. However, according to numbers I recently saw, here in Illinois the Democratic Party got 59.8% of the popular vote in the 2018 elections and took 62.7% of the seats in the statehouse. That is, the gerrymandered districts gave the Democratic Party an extra 2.8% of legislative seats over what they should get if there was no gerrymandering. One wonders if any Fair Maps process would do much better than that.

In contrast, in the Republican-controlled statehouse in Pennsylvania, the Republican Party got 44.4% of the vote, but 54.2% of the seats; and in the Republican-controlled statehouse in Wisconsin, the Republican Party got only 36% of the popular vote, but 64% of the seats. t seems that Republicans are far better at gerrymandering than Democrats.

Dick Page

Naperville