California has a special election this year, and I’m following my routine of discussing my choices, with the intent of normalizing the voting process.  It won’t be too long this time, because there’s just one proposition.  Well, there’s also a local measure, but I tend not to discuss those.

Proposition 50: Yes

This is pro-gerrymandering legislation, and counterintuitively, I’m in favor of it!

Since 2008, California has adopted model anti-gerrymandering legislation.  Congressional districts are drawn by an independent bipartisan committee.  It’s not like I follow what they do in detail, but I hear very good things about it.  And also, in principle, I think it’s the correct way to do it.

I am aware that among geeks, there is a popular proposal to draw congressional districts purely using math.  I strongly oppose this idea.  The thing that people often miss is that mathematically “neutral” methods are not really neutral.  They tend to favor the political interests of people who are sparsely distributed over a broad geographic region, i.e. rural interests.  In the US, that often means Republicans.  It’s nuts to me that geeks have failed to realize this and are unwittingly advocating a pro-Republican policy.  In my research into gerrymandering, I think it’s a lot more complicated than people give credit for, and there’s no clear “correct” answer.  I think it’s appropriate for actual humans to make the decisions, with consideration of cultural and geographic boundaries that are not captured in mathematical models.

Anyway, that’s my spiel in favor of California’s current policy.  Why am I in favor of changing it?

Well the problem with anti-gerrymandering, is that it reduces California’s power compared to other states.  We enact anti-gerrymandering legislation, so we send a more diverse set of voices to Congress.  But Republicans have no interest in anti-gerrymandering legislation, they only enact policies that benefit themselves.  Proposition 50 is a response to recent Texas redistricting policy, which is explicitly being redesigned to favor Republicans, with Trump support.  They’re not playing fair.  For us to play fair would be unilateral disarmament.

California has demonstrated model anti-gerrymandering legislation, and that’s great.  But what has also been demonstrated, is that anti-gerrymandering legislation needs to be mandated on the Federal level.  It is not enough for only the pro-democracy states to do it, while the fascist party just takes advantage.

Another neat thing about Prop 50 is that it automatically expires in 2030, at which point we can reconsider this decision.