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comment by caio
caio  ·  4376 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Arguing the efficiency of protest voting

In 2010, Conyers had fewer votes than he had ever had. Wikipedia doesn't have the data for 2012.

Next election, perhaps?





b_b  ·  4376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I doubt it. Every 10 years they redraw the Congressional districts. In 2010 it was a particularly Republican favoring election, and now his district is even more Democratic than it was. He will be gone when he retires or dies, and not a moment sooner.

caio  ·  4376 days ago  ·  link  ·  
b_b  ·  4376 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yes, exactly. For example, here in Michigan, we have more Democrats than Republicans, but 2010 was a good Republican year. They therefore took over the state legislature before the new districts were drawn in 2011 (districts apportionment is based on the national census, which happens every 10 years; 2010 was the most recent one). So because of this one election cycle that was bad for Democrats, we have 13 Congresspeople, and 9 are Republicans, and it will be this way for 10 years. Here is a map of the districts near where I live. Nice neat lines, eh? In the current election, Democrats got more votes than Republicans for Congress, but Republicans control the Congress by a large majority. Seems criminal at worst, undemocratic at least.