US House Redistricting: Ohio

[Stranger in a strange land]

The current map is already an obscene Republican gerrymander - if they tried to make it any more Republican, they would either run afoul of the VRA or set themselves up for a big reversal if the natinonal environment changed again - which was what happened in 2008.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I think cutting up the northeast is a good idea (seems like an area that will swing around only to be dissapointed by both parties), but messing around with Columbus is going to burn the Republicans. The pubbies in PA seem to be more reasonable. Why is that?

Ohio Republicans haven't actually commented on much. We don't know if they're actually trying to do a 13-3 map; they've actually hinted that the aren't, or at least that such will be 'incredibly difficult'.

I think a 13-3-1 map might be in the realm of possibility, and it could be a greedy map, but not exactly a suicidal map.

Given how badly the Republicans have been polling in the state lately, as well as the state's propensity for wild, volatile swings due to the popularity or lack thereof of a single individual, if they draw a 13-3 map would likely shoot themselves in the foot.

[Stranger in a strange land]

2) Mandate at-large elections with the specific exception of any VRA districts. Let Fudge run in an AA-majority district centered in East Cleveland. The remaining fifteen [almost] at-large districts would be problematic for the Democrats.

That sounds like Singapore. Of course, the reason Singapore uses this system is to strengthen the PAP's monopoly on power. Not only would it be flagrantly illegal in the U.S., plus voters tend to take a dim view of these types of shenanigans.

[Stranger in a strange land]

2) Mandate at-large elections with the specific exception of any VRA districts. Let Fudge run in an AA-majority district centered in East Cleveland. The remaining fifteen [almost] at-large districts would be problematic for the Democrats.

That sounds like Singapore.

Also, sounds like New Hampshire.

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And, in New Hampshire the same system is used to keep from splitting whole towns. Guilt by association isn't going to advance your position very well.

Apparently, the folks in the US don't take that dim a view of such a system given that variably-sized multi-member districting were used in North Carolina and Virginia up to recent times. Apparently, they still exist in West Virginia [SD? VT?]. Why isn't it "blatantly illegal" in West Virginia? There, real "shenanigans" are being legislated.

The key difference here is that those are for state elections which run under different rules from federal ones. This thread is about U.S. house elections. Federal Law has required single-member congressional districts since 1967.