Politically Biased Plan Draws Outrage at Missouri Redistricting as Problems Mount Ahead of Vote | Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

by Adrian Tawfik

Recently, the election reform advocates at Fair Vote, an organization based in Maryland near Washington D.C., published an article that is highly critical of Missouri’s plan for congressional redistricting.  The article based goes on to suggest some meaningful solutions including reducing the number of districts and the use of Fair Vote’s system of elections that are spelled out nicely at the Fair Vote website.

This article dovetails very nicely with an upcoming project at Democracy Chronicles with a group of election method reform experts from the US, Canada and Latin America.  You can find the full here.  Stay tuned for more! An excerpt from More Gerrymanders: “Missouri’s Partisan Plan versus the Fair Voting Alternative” by Sheahan Virgin, Rob Richie, and Lindsey Needham:

Missouri’s new congressional redistricting plan is a classic partisan gerrymander. Republicans are likely to win 75% of House seats even in years when their candidates receive fewer votes statewide than Democrats. Of eight congressional districts, only one is even remotely balanced between the major parties.

Reformers rightly criticize such partisan gerrymandering, but the root of this unfairness is Missouri’s use of winner-take-all voting. Changing winner-take-all voting is the only way to ensure that all Missouri voters participate in meaningfully contested elections while also earning fair representation.

FairVote’s Contact Information:

6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
tel. (301) 270-4616

Homepage

fax (301) 270-4133
info@fairvote.org