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renate

(13,776 posts)
Mon Sep 28, 2020, 06:51 PM Sep 2020

Virginia and Missouri voters--I just saw something on Reddit I wanted to pass along [View all]

Maybe similar things are going on in other states too. I live in Oregon, where we get a voter's pamphlet and we can spend as long as we want to in the comfort of our homes, reading through the amendments and thinking carefully about our vote, but I assume this isn't true everywhere.

What I read is that Amendment 3 (in Missouri) is a sneaky way to try to allow gerrymandering. According to r/meandrunkR2D2 on Reddit, the first part is stuff that people would be for, but then a part is added that would allow the governor to appoint a group of his/her choosing to do the redistricting.

Also, here's a link from Common Cause.
https://www.commoncause.org/our-work/gerrymandering-and-representation/gerrymandering-redistricting/clean-missouri-initiative/
(The measure would:
Eliminate the position of nonpartisan demographer, who is selected in a bipartisan manner to draw state legislative districts, and returns the power to draw districts back to a redistricting commission that is handpicked by elected officials.
Eliminate strict protections against drawing districts for partisan advantage and allows one party to enjoy a mathematical advantage that would match some of the worst state legislative gerrymanders in the last 40 years.
Make Missouri the only state in the country to make approximately children and non-citizens invisible in our democracy by drawing districts based only on citizens of voting age. All states draw congressional districts based on total population and almost all of them also draw state legislative districts that way. No state excludes all children and non-citizens from being counted for redistricting purposes.)

The Missouri amendment seems like a pretty clear No vote; it seems a little vaguer in Virginia, although a Redditor called r/AmbrohamDrincoln says that the good stuff in the amendment was already passed and so the amendment being voted on now does nothing extra except allow gerrymandering.

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Good to know soothsayer Sep 2020 #1
Got to watch those things... stillcool Sep 2020 #2
Please xpost to state forums! SheltieLover Sep 2020 #3
great advice--thanks! renate Sep 2020 #4
Ty! SheltieLover Sep 2020 #9
Thank you for the reminder!! hatrack Sep 2020 #5
VA Dems already sent out a flyer to vote no on this nitpicker Sep 2020 #6
+1 nt flying rabbit Sep 2020 #7
The MO amendment 3 xmas74 Sep 2020 #8
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