Posted on Feb 12, 2022
Uncompetitive House seats ensure Americans’ votes change nothing
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When millions of American voters head to the polls this autumn to vote for congressional candidates, the vast majority of their votes won’t matter at all.
It’s an idea that’s anathema to the very idea of US government – that politicians are accountable to the people. But America is poised to have a staggeringly low number of competitive seats in the US House, an alarming trend that makes it harder to govern and exacerbates political polarization.
States have now redrawn 327 of the US House’s 435 districts so far as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process and the number of competitive districts is dropping,. Just 26 of those districts are considered to be highly competitive, meaning either party has less than a five-point advantage in them.
When redistricting is complete, there could be between 30 and 35 competitive seats, predicted Dave Wasserman, a redistricting expert for the non-partisan . That could leave as much as 94% of the US House running in relatively safe seats.
It’s an idea that’s anathema to the very idea of US government – that politicians are accountable to the people. But America is poised to have a staggeringly low number of competitive seats in the US House, an alarming trend that makes it harder to govern and exacerbates political polarization.
States have now redrawn 327 of the US House’s 435 districts so far as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process and the number of competitive districts is dropping,. Just 26 of those districts are considered to be highly competitive, meaning either party has less than a five-point advantage in them.
When redistricting is complete, there could be between 30 and 35 competitive seats, predicted Dave Wasserman, a redistricting expert for the non-partisan . That could leave as much as 94% of the US House running in relatively safe seats.
Uncompetitive House seats ensure Americans’ votes change nothing
Posted from theguardian.com
Voting
Elections
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 2
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We have arrived at exactly the spot out founders feared, party tribalism. We would rather vote for the same old faces rather than vote for a challenger from the other party.
We need better participation in our primaries, but seldom get that.
We need better participation in our primaries, but seldom get that.
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Presumes that only the Democrat or Republican choice is viable to begin with. No good reason for that to be true.
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MSG (Join to see)
MSG Stan Hutchison that's primarily a result of either the two majors rigging the rules against minor parties and myopic voters. As soon as people stop presuming other parties have no chance, that will change.
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MSG Stan Hutchison
MSG (Join to see) - Think that will ever happen? I think we are too locked in to the 2 party system for much of a change to ever happen.
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MSG (Join to see)
MSG Stan Hutchison I think it is happening, but it is extremely slow. The Libertarian Party is the fastest growing party in the US.
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MSG (Join to see)
MSG Stan Hutchison maybe redistricting should be done exclusively by committees composed of "third party" members.
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