The Texas Redistricting have been mandated by Texas Constitution since 1876. Base on the Constitution, every 10 years, Texas Government ( or Legislature to be clear) have to redraw the state representative and senatorial district. After the Redistricting in 2002, the Republican and Democratic have been fighting for their additional congress seats. After splingting Texas into 17-15 sears in U.S House Representative, the Democraft won Republician by 2 seats
It 's not common for a district to redraw in the middle of decade; However, this just was done because of a plan that was submitted at the 2003 legislative session.
Following the 2003, a regular session have been closed due to the lack of quorums and none of the vote have been made by the Democrat. After that, a special session have been called to discuss further about the problems of the redistricting.While the house passed it,the senator blocked it due to the 2/3 requirement.In the next event,
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Due to the lack of population and the differences in the rate of citizen in Texas Map, we really have to concider about redraw the map in voting.There is a thing called gerrymandering that make the redraw of the map become unfair. For example, there are 100 people divided into purple and yellow,they both support different idea. 40% are yellow and 60% are purple and they stand equally in 1 square. If the purple have the right to redraw their own district, it could be all 4 district of purple. In that case, the yellow will have no right to vote. However, If the yellow can redraw the disctrict lines however they want, they can still win with less voter then purple ( 3 yellow and 1 purple). Another example of gerrymandering is the voting in 2012, Pennsylvania Republicans lost the popular vote, but they still won 72% of their seats by redrawing the districts line in a weird looking way but it contain the area have most of the voter and high
This is shown in an article written by Quartz that states that “Wisconsin’s partisan gerrymandering deprived citizens of their constitutional right to a vote with value” in other words would diminish a person's
The Texas Legislative Branch of Government The Texas Constitution divides the state government into three separate: the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. These three branches share equal power within the Texas State governemt. The executive branch is lead by the governor, the judicial branch consists of the Texas Supreme Court and the local courts around the state, finally, the legislative branch, is lead by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate. These members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and Senators serve four-year terms.
I believe that all members of the Texas legislature should be term-limited. I think that since the President of the United States has term-limited. It would only be fair that all branches within the government to practice term-limited as well. So far, there has only been fifteen states that practice term-limited (Maine, California, Colorado, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Nevada). Term limits can be divided into two categories: consecutive and lifetime.
Since 1980, the Republican candidate, running for President, has received a high percentage of the vote in Texas, than he did nationally. However, the thing that has changed between 1996 and now, is that their is a different distribution in the vote for President within Texas. During the time between 1960 and 1992, the Big 6 counties (those counties that consist of the largest cities in Texas) carried the GOP Presidential candidate (Thornburn 168). The only exclusion to this was Johnson in 1964. Now in 1996, they have produced the lowest percentage of the vote for the GOP candidate.
Given the legal nature of the gerrymandering issue, there is an extensive legal background on the issue since the ninetieth century. This literature review gives the more relevant legal background regarding Pennsylvania’s current situation, as well as background information on the novel ways that policy-makers and researchers measure political gerrymandering. Keeping the legal background and measurement procedures in context, there are also legislative reforms and commission procedures that states have taken in order to ameliorate the problems that arise from gerrymandering. A. Constitutionality & Legal Background The Pennsylvania State Constitution contains relevant clauses that must be applied to any redistricting plan.
Texas should always maintain a good relationship with their foreign country. If all of the fifty states would have been independent relations with their foreign countries it would create a chaos not only with our federal government, but with those countries it would create a confusion.
It was May, 1787, when representatives from all over the country came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George Washington was chosen to run these meetings, as they all believed he was trustworthy, he could have an unbiased opinion, and also that he could keep their secret. Their secret being the meetings and the discussions that took place here. They kept it unknown by the media and people so that they could say as they please without unwanted pressure. They created these meetings with the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, on account of much needed to be done.
The Dark Side of Gerrymandering Gerrymandering has been around ever since the forefathers of America first started the nations democratic voting system. Gerrymandering is the redistribution of electoral district lines in order to give the redistributors an unfair political advantage (Elliot). While it is technically a legal practice, it allows the political parties in office to find a way to gain political advantages by separating minorities and voters of opposing political parties. The social inequalities and federal dishonesty associated with gerrymandering must be addressed and regulated as it poses a real problem for Americans as their votes are having less and less of an impact on elections. There are two common types of gerrymandering
America is a Republic (Representative Democracy), not a Democracy in the full sense of the word. Our nation is a system of government that gives citizens a chance to elect the top Government officials. Citizens elect Government officials, however they cannot vote on legislation. Through Electoral College 538 electors can cast votes to vote for who they want the president and vice president of the United States to be. Including, in order to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts.
The history of political parties in Texas is marked by nearly a century of Democratic Party dominance followed by a realignment that shifted the balance of power in favor if the republicans. Political science professor Cal Jilson noted that the dominance of one party in Texas has been a result of the state’s dominant values. Both parties in Texas today reflect more conservative versions of their national counterparts. The other chapter talks about the Interest groups in Texas. Interest groups plays a critical role in all democratic systems of government.
According to Texas Edition, minorities are more liberal and tend to vote
But recently gerrymandering has become more controversial because people feel that it has taken away their rights as a voter and it swings the votes to one side by a big percentage. Current cases are before the courts to decide if gerrymandering is legal. Some states have been discussing whether it should still be allowed during elections. “Many efforts are underway to remedy this political
In advising the Chief Justice, it is obvious that the voting districts should be redrawn for a multitude of reasons. As the system of drawing districts stands, it is highly vulnerable to corruption for the party in power, as they are the ones deciding the districts. Concurrently, those in power are incentivized to maintain their power through any means necessary; which, in a democracy, is obtaining the most votes. Because it is extremely difficult determining whether or not the drawing of a district is preferential to one party over another is, the risk to those in power is minimal while the potential payout is high. Thus, short of any moral reasoning to stop them, the likelihood of someone gaming the design of voting districts is high.
Representative Kevin McCarthy is one of fifteen Republican members in Congress in the state of California, which is highly outnumbered by thirty-eight democrats. After four years of getting reelected as the representative for the 22nd district in California, redistricting retitled it the 23rd district. The newly numbered district became more compact, losing the central coast while adding a chunk of Tulare County. This did not change the fact that McCarthy’s district was still heavily Republican. The redistricting of 2012 in California showcased a new way to redistrict as the citizens of California chose the district lines, providing one of the most competitive elections in the country.
This process is called Congressional redistricting. Congressional redistricting is the redrawing of district lines according to the state’s numbers