It's not that AA voters vote overwhelmingly for AA candidates. It's that they vote overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates.
The historical pattern is for White Dems to put up to about 30% AA voters in a majority white district.
By doing so, the white dems assured that AA voters did not have the numbers to nominate an African-American candidate in the Democrat primary. But they could assume that the African Americans would vote for whichever white democrat won the primary. So they have just added 30% of voters who are reliably democrat voters in the general election, but who would have no effective voice in the democrat primary.
Bullshit. Counties do change. Nothing prevents it, and if there were political advantage to be had by doing so more often, it would occur more often.
In the city I live in, part of the most populous county has been trying to break off and become its own county for several years.
And this would be unconstitutional. "Essentially equal" is not the constitutional standard by which "one man, one vote" is judged.
An aspect that I haven't seen commented on here is Racial Gerrymandering.
Even if you disallow using partisan information, you can achieve the same results if your state has a large percentage of African-American (AA) voters.
And in the Southern states where the Voting Rights Act is in effect, there is somewhat of a loose requirement of not diluting AA vote strength. This will, in all instances, cause the creation of a number of majority AA districts, which always will elect a Democrat. And it makes the surrounding districts "bleached" or overwhelmingly white, which tend to elect GOP candidates.
Assume that AA voters vote Democrat 90% of the time. And note that isn't a racial stereotype. Any political scientist or political professional will tell you that it's an historical fact for at least 20 years. Knowing that a census block is 90% AA, you can safely assume that the voters will go overwhelmingly Democratic.
It is also notable that voters' tend to cluster by partisanship. In the city I live in, GOP voters live overwhelmingly in the suburbs and a few intown neighborhoods with high average home value and average income. White Dems cluster in certain other intown neighborhoods and near the large University in town. AA voters live predominantly on the southside.
Without knowing partisan voting behavior, I can still draw GOP and DEM districts in my sleep.
FWIW, I work in politics professionally and have been using computers for redistricting for 12 years.
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It's not that AA voters vote overwhelmingly for AA candidates. It's that they vote overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates. The historical pattern is for White Dems to put up to about 30% AA voters in a majority white district. By doing so, the white dems assured that AA voters did not have the numbers to nominate an African-American candidate in the Democrat primary. But they could assume that the African Americans would vote for whichever white democrat won the primary. So they have just added 30% of voters who are reliably democrat voters in the general election, but who would have no effective voice in the democrat primary.
Bullshit. Counties do change. Nothing prevents it, and if there were political advantage to be had by doing so more often, it would occur more often. In the city I live in, part of the most populous county has been trying to break off and become its own county for several years. And this would be unconstitutional. "Essentially equal" is not the constitutional standard by which "one man, one vote" is judged.
An aspect that I haven't seen commented on here is Racial Gerrymandering. Even if you disallow using partisan information, you can achieve the same results if your state has a large percentage of African-American (AA) voters. And in the Southern states where the Voting Rights Act is in effect, there is somewhat of a loose requirement of not diluting AA vote strength. This will, in all instances, cause the creation of a number of majority AA districts, which always will elect a Democrat. And it makes the surrounding districts "bleached" or overwhelmingly white, which tend to elect GOP candidates. Assume that AA voters vote Democrat 90% of the time. And note that isn't a racial stereotype. Any political scientist or political professional will tell you that it's an historical fact for at least 20 years. Knowing that a census block is 90% AA, you can safely assume that the voters will go overwhelmingly Democratic. It is also notable that voters' tend to cluster by partisanship. In the city I live in, GOP voters live overwhelmingly in the suburbs and a few intown neighborhoods with high average home value and average income. White Dems cluster in certain other intown neighborhoods and near the large University in town. AA voters live predominantly on the southside. Without knowing partisan voting behavior, I can still draw GOP and DEM districts in my sleep. FWIW, I work in politics professionally and have been using computers for redistricting for 12 years.