Those 89 people exist they just weren't counted
<[link removed]>
Hi Friend,
In the grand scheme of things, 435 is not a huge number.
If we were talking about donuts consumed, trophies won, or dollars found on
the sidewalk, 435 would be a lot. But when we’re talking about congressional
representatives for a nation of 328 million people, it’s not a lot. In fact,
it’s less than one ten thousandth of one percent of Americans.
So, who we elect matters. So does how we elect them — the processes that we
use, the maps that determine who gets to vote for them — all dictate if our
government will be truly representative and functional, and able to tackle our
country’s biggest challenges.e
Here are three things to think about this week.
Who’s up, who’s down
<[link removed]>
As I said before — 435 is not a huge number, but it is the number of members
in the U.S. House of Representatives. And for now, at least, that number isn’t
going to change. So to adjust for the growing population and changing
distribution of Americans, theCensus Bureau released their reapportionment
findings
<[link removed]>
, which determines which states gain seats and which lose seats in the next
Congress. States like Texas, Colorado, and Florida gained seats, while
Pennsylvania, New York, and California lost seats.
Fundamentally, every state wants more representation; the more representatives
you have, the more congressional committees your state can be represented on,
the more influence you have, the greater your chances of sending money home to
your constituents. Of course, the number of your representatives also determine
your state’s number of Electoral College votes. In other words, this process of
reapportionment is really important, and in some cases, this determination was
made by just a few dozen people. Had New York counted 89 more people in the
census, they wouldn’t have lost a seat. That’s how tight we’re talking about
and how high the stakes are for voters.
And that’s why, the next major political battle is the one over redistricting
and gerrymandering. The majority of states allow legislators, all of whom have
political self-interests, to draw the legislative maps, meaning that whichever
party controls the legislature controls the ability to influence the maps.This
redistricting process is happening right now in states, and it’s why you need
to get involved. Contact your state representatives and let them know: you want
fair maps.
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Why this matters
<[link removed]>
Last month, Unite America released The Primary Problem
<[link removed]>, a report that shows
how too few Americans control the outcomes of elections in the vast majority of
Congressional districts. The outsized power of partisan primaries is largely
because the majority of Congressional districts (83%) are considered safe for
one party of the other — in part due to gerrymandering.
When legislators get to draw their own districts, they draw them in a way that
ensures voters who support their party are in the majority, while members of
the opposite party are split between districts to dilute their influence —
meaning that the election that actually matters is the primary election, in
which the majority party determines their nominee. Typically, only the most
extreme voters turn out, so the candidates who get nominated — then elected —
are more extreme than the voters in their district — increasingly so in recent
years.
Where can we see this in play? In Arizona, where the state has been engaged in
an unprecedented audit of the Presidential election, one that was spurred on by
elected leaders attempting to placate their base.As the Times writes
<[link removed]>
: “The Senate’s rightward drift is simply explained, political analysts say.
Most of the 30 Senate districts are so uncompetitive that the Democratic and
Republican primaries effectively choose who will serve as senators.Because most
voters sit out primary elections, the ones who do show up — for Republicans,
that often means far-right Trump supporters — are the key to getting elected.”
(#PrimaryProblem!)
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Meanwhile, in the Big Easy...
<[link removed]>
States are the laboratories of democracy. In our federalist system, the states
have a good deal of authority to determine how they hold their elections. In
Louisiana, they use a majority runoff system that, in practice, operates a lot
like California or Washington’s top-two nonpartisan primary system. Here’s how
it works: All candidates, regardless of party, run in a single election, in
which all voters–regardless of party–are allowed to participate. If no
candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the top-two finishers go to a runoff
election.
Louisiana’s second congressional district held its runoff election over the
weekend
<[link removed]>
. The second district — which covers parts of Baton Rouge and New Orleans — is
the state’s only Democratic district, and has a PVI of +23 (which just means
it’s very, very blue). The runoff pitted a progressive Democrat against one who
caught flack for his commitment to bipartisanship. In another state, in another
district, with the more prevalent partisan primary process, we might expect the
more far-left candidate to win in a low turnout election, thus electing a
candidate who represents just a fraction of the voters in the district—voters
who skew to the more extreme sides of their party.But that’s not what happened
in Louisiana.
In an election in which every vote and every voter mattered, bipartisanship
won out. When an election system puts voters first, candidates who believe in
putting country over party can win.
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Brett
__
Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
DONATE <[link removed]>
Want to stop receiving our weekly Three Things Thursday emails? Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
from Three Things Thursday, or Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
from all Unite America communications.
Unite America | 1580 Lincoln St Suite #520 Denver, CO 80218
Paid for by Unite America.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
www.uniteamerica.org <[link removed]>
