The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 18, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Gerrymandering, the manipulation of voting district boundaries to engineer an election outcome which benefits a particular party, had a significant impact on control of the new Congress, according to a new report. 

The Brennan Center for Justice found over four of five Congressional districts were won by a margin over 10%, including 90 percent of the GOP House majority.   Within that number, 132 GOP winners were in districts with winning margins of 25% or more, and 112 by a Democrat.  

In comparison, only 37 districts nationwide were decided by five percent or less, and only 19 districts were competitive enough to flip.  

The Brennan Center points to North Carolina as a state which, after a more liberal Supreme Court was flipped conservative in 2022, replaced the previous court’s 7 to 7 competitive maps, with the legislature’s gerrymandered version, resulting in a 10 to 4 GOP Congressional seat advantage.   

The most effective solution to gerrymandering at the moment is citizen-led independent redistricting, which has been successful in producing fairer and more competitive maps in California, Michigan, Utah and a handful of other states. In November, Ohio voters rejected such a commission, due in part to an attempt by elected officials to derail it.   Brennan found that independent commissions, citizen-led or otherwise, drew only 82 Congressional districts this cycle, but those districts were three times more competitive. 

We have the Brennan Center’s report at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Brennan Center for Justice – How Gerrymandering and Fair Maps Affected the Battle for the House
FactCheck.org – Speaker Johnson’s Partisan Spin on Gerrymandering in the 2024 Election
National Conference of State Legislatures – Redistricting Commissions: State Legislative Plans
Campaign Legal Center – Independent Redistricting Commissions

Campaign Legal Center – Movement to Establish Citizen-Led Redistricting Commissions in the States
California Citizens Redistricting Commission – What is the Commission?

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause, Represent.Us, League of Women Voters US

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #EndGerrymandering #FairMaps #RiggedDistricts

The post New Report Shows Gerrymandering’s Impact on Control of the New Congress  appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 1, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Three federal court actions last week in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida cases let stand racially-gerrymandered maps diluting Black voting power.  Those diluted maps neutralize the voice of Black voters in those districts for 2024. 

The majority minority North Florida 5th Congressional district was reconfigured by a map proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis into a white majority district.  That map was later struck down by a lower federal court.  Democracy Docket reports that March 27th, a federal district judge held that the plaintiffs did not prove Florida legislators intended to racially gerrymander the maps, and dismissed the case.   A Florida Supreme Court case is still pending.

Also March 27th, a federal appeals panel affirmed a decision over a new North Carolina Senate district which dismantled a former majority minority opportunity district.  The majority of the panel said it was too close to the election, and allowed it to stay through November 2024.

A U.S. Supreme Court case from South Carolina STILL doesn’t have an opinion. So with the June 11th state primary imminent, a lower court allowed a Congressional map diluting Black voting power to be used  for  2024.  The legislature had argued that it didn’t racially gerrymander, it gerrymandered for partisan reasons, which SCOTUS ruled in 2019 was an inherently state political issue. 

We have links to the decisions at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Federal Court Upholds Florida’s Congressional Map That Eliminated Historically-Black District
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Common Cause Florida v. Byrd
Democracy Docket – 4th Circuit Declines to Block New North Carolina Senate Map for 2024 Elections
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT  (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in Pierce v. North Carolina Board of Elections
Democracy Docket – South Carolina Will Use Gerrymandered Congressional Map in 2024, District Court Rules
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA (via Democracy Docket) – Decision in South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. Alexander

Groups Taking Action:
South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP,  Common Cause Florida, Common Cause NC, NAACP Legal Defense Fund

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #RaciallGerrymandering

The post Federal Courts Leave Racially Gerrymandered South Carolina, North Carolina & Florida Maps in Place for 2024 Election appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 24, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We reported January 16th on a federal court finding that maps drawn by Michigan’s Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission diluted Black voting power and must be redrawn.  An appeal to keep the existing maps was declined Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Michigan voters created the independent commission in 2018 through a constitutional referendum to put an end to gerrymandering.  Detroit civil rights groups objected to the commission’s proposed maps during 2021 hearings, but the MICRC’s consultants concluded the districts met federal Voting Rights Act guidelines. 

A federal court panel disagreed, finding that the commission diluted Black majority districts. The court ordered 13 greater Detroit house districts be redrawn by February 2nd, and six Senate maps by April.  On January 11th, the MICRC asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the order, but SCOTUS declined on Jan. 22nd.   

But, there’s a partisan twist to the story. Nineteen Black voters representing 13 districts were plaintiffs in the case.  The Michigan Advance reports they were represented by a Republican former solicitor general for the state of Michigan. And it was mostly White, conservative suburbs which were redistricted with largely Black, more liberal Detroit neighborhoods.  Michigan’s House is composed of 56 Democrats and 54 Republicans, and all are up for reelection in November 2024. 

A special master will review the maps for compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Michigan Legislative Redistricting Challenge (Agee)
Michigan Advance – Bombshell ruling requires 13 Michigan districts to be redrawn before 2024 election
American Democracy Minute – Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission’s Maps for Greater Detroit Under Scrutiny for Voting Rights Act Violations. What Happened?
U.S. Supreme Court – Emergency Appeal by Michigan Citizen Redistricting Commission for Stay
Michigan Advance – U.S. Supreme Court rejects request to halt Michigan House map redraw
Democracy Docket – U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Halt Redraw of Michigan’s Legislative Maps
Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission – Website & Draft Maps

Groups Taking Action:
Voters Not Politicians,  League of Women Voters MI, NAACP Michigan State Conference, Detroit Action, Promote the Vote MI\

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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Are you a radio station?  Find our broadcast files at Pacifica Radio Network’s Audioport and PRX

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #VotingRightsAct #MichiganPolitics

The post SCOTUS Declines Stay Request from Michigan’s Independent Redistricting Commission; 19 State House & Senate Districts to be Redrawn appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 16, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

In December 2023, a federal court threw out state redistricting maps for greater Detroit, drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, or MICRC. Truly independent redistricting is the gold standard; so what happened?

The three-judge panel found that 13 state legislature voting districts had been racially diluted by the 13-member citizen commission, making it harder for a Black majority-minority district to elect a candidate of its choice as stipulated by the Voting Rights Act Section 2.

MICRC members are randomly chosen from a pool of applicants to minimize partisan manipulation. But, the court found that member inexperience meant reliance on experts for guidance to balance communities of interests and requirements of the Voting Rights Act.

Those experts suggested the commission merge some of the primarily Black and less-affluent Detroit districts, with primarily White and highly-affluent suburbs Gross Pointe, Bloomfield Hills, and Birmingham.  Also curious, it was a Republican group which hired a Republican former state solicitor general to file the case.  Republican AGs have openly defied Voting Rights Act rules in other states. 

The Michigan Advance reports that January 8th, the court directed that new maps be drawn by February 2nd.  On January 11th, the MICRC appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay, asking  for the existing maps to stay in place.     

Find more on this evolving story at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Michigan Advance – Bombshell ruling requires 13 Michigan districts to be redrawn before 2024 election
Detroit Free Press – Court orders metro Detroit legislative maps redrawn

U.S District Court via Democracy Docket – Opinion and Order – Agee vs. Benson

Bridge Michigan – Experts: ‘Everything up in the air’ now that Michigan districts must be redrawn
Democracy Docket – Redistricting Decisions Will Reshape Legislative Maps in Wisconsin and Michigan
Michigan Advance – Federal court orders redistricting commission to draw new state House districts by Feb. 2
The Hill – Michigan redistricting panel asks court for permission to use unconstitutional maps
Groups Taking Action:
Voters Not Politicians,  League of Women Voters MI, NAACP Michigan State Conference, Detroit Action, Promote the Vote MI

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FairMaps #VotingRightsAct  #PromotetheVote #MichiganPolitics

The post Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission’s Maps for Greater Detroit Under Scrutiny for Voting Rights Act Violations. What Happened? appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 18, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Last week we reported on the aftershocks of an Arkansas racial gerrymandering case, where the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided voters and groups had “No private right of action” under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.   Two rulings issued Friday, December 15th pushed back on that radical decision.

GOP officials in North Dakota and Louisiana seized on the Eighth Circuit’s  decision to see if they could overturn federal court mandates to draw maps where Native and Black Americans could have an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice under the VRA.

Citing the “no private right of action,” decision the State of North Dakota tried to stop the redrawing of maps in a case won by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe.  Democracy Docket reports that an unsigned order Friday, also from the Eighth Circuit, denied the appeal by the state’s GOP Secretary of State. 

In another VRA racial gerrymandering case won by voters, the GOP Louisiana Secretary of State AND Attorney General asked for a rehearing of Robinson v. Ardoin, also based on the Eighth Circuit’s decision.  The Fifth Circuit didn’t agree, denying the state’s request, and mandating the map with a VRA-compliant district be drawn by January 30th, per the lower court’s order. 

We have more the defense of the Voting Rights Act Section 2 at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
NPR – How a Supreme Court justice’s paragraph put the Voting Rights Act in more danger
AP – Court ruling backs tribes’ effort to force lawmakers to redraw North Dakota legislative boundaries
Democracy Docket – 8th Circuit Greenlights Redraw of North Dakota Legislative Map To Comply With Voting Rights Act
U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals –  APPEAL FROM DECISION OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA 
Louisiana Illuminator – 5th Circuit denies Louisiana’s appeal in congressional redistricting case
Louisiana Illuminator – Louisiana Legislature gets time to draw congressional map in third redistricting session
Brennan Center for Justice – The Newest Attack on the Voting Rights Act

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, NAACP Legal Defence Fund, Native American Rights Fund,  Power Coalition for Equity and Justice

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #VotingRightsAct #EndGerrymandering #NativeVote 

The post Encouraging New Decisions for North Dakota and Louisiana Push Back on the U.S. Eighth Circuit’s “No Right of Private Action” Voting Rights Act Ruling appeared first on American Democracy Minute.