Egregious Gerrymandering Wins Again

Well it looks like Utah has a new congresswoman. She's a cousin of Ammon Bundy, and she wasn't even a registered voter in the state when she signed up to run. Wants to get on the Natural Resources Committee to try and get fed lands in Utah transferred to the state. She's dangerous. 

But you can see why Salt Lakers, in the most democratic area in Utah, feel disenfranchised by the legislative gerrymandering that broke up urban Salt Lake County into 4 areas and will prevent a Democrat from ever reaching congress to press on environmental and other issues.

In Salt Lake County, the Democrat won (counting so far) 65.80% to 27.42%, 25,000 to 10,000.

But district wide, the Republican won 57% to 33% or 77,000 to 45,000. So outside SL County, 67,000 to 20,000. 

Here's how the boundaries go, with one city being divided among 4 congresspeople, which clearly weakens any strength Salt Lake County urban voters have. The mayor in that city jokes his city has more congressional representatives than some states! 

Ignore the red circles. All four districts in the state border a 12 block area. That's how egregious this was. 

Which led me to approach the City Council to name it "Boundary Pass" and create these bumper stickers. "This is your Pike's Peak!"

We actually walked the 1.8 miles on November 4th to publicize a statewide tax program for seniors that lacks rural participation. 

Here's how the final district maps turned out. My district's in green and I vote with people who live 300 miles away. We have different concerns. 

Here's how the voting went yesterday. The mormon taliban in the legislature won and their goal was achieved. Welcome to Utah.

And now a district court has ruled that can't be challenged by voters?