Records reveal concerns of deceased GOP redistricting expert

[Judi Lynn]

David A. Lieb and Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press
Updated 1:24 pm CST, Saturday, January 18, 2020

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Republican victories in state legislative and gubernatorial elections in 2010 put them in a commanding position the next year to draw new voting districts for the U.S. House and state legislatures that helped fortify Republican power for much of the following decade.

. . .

Behind the scenes, GOP consultant Thomas Hofeller was worried that Democrats were far ahead of Republicans in collecting data that could help them draw districts in their favor following the next round of redistricting that will occur after the 2020 census.

Hofeller died in August 2018 after a battle with cancer. But troves of his previously confidential digital documents, data tables and emails were publicly posted online this month by his estranged daughter, Stephanie Hofeller. She also supplied them to plaintiffs during a legal challenge brought by Democrats and Common Cause against the North Carolina state legislative districts that her father helped draw.

. . .

The records reviewed by The Associated Press reveal Hofeller's extensive involvement in drafting or defending Republican redistricting efforts against claims of racial or political gerrymandering. He worked not only for statewide efforts, such as in Missouri and Virginia, but even for local ones, such as in Galveston County, Texas, and Nassau County, New York. Hofeller also aided GOP legal challenges to Democratic-friendly maps in Arizona and Maryland.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Records-reveal-concerns-of-deceased-GOP-14985914.php

[Scotch-Irish]

1. This man is the reason we have Trump, and why we've had the bush wars.

Gerrymandering 101. May this dude rot in hell, and thank God for his daughter releasing his rotten tactics.

[madeup64]

3. Usually I would take the high road...

But for somebody like this who worked his whole life to ensure certain people's voices/votes were not proportionately heard I wholeheartedly agree.

Not sure if the author is just phrasing it how the GOP or this guy did but the idea that AZ maps favor Democrats is not correct. Here in AZ have 9 Leg seats. Currently favors Democrats 5-4. We have an independent redistricting commission and its been 5-4 Republican or 5-4 Democratic since 2012. Which lines up pretty close with the overall voter registration in our state. In year's where there's better Republican turnout the Republicans take that 9th seat and then when there's better Democratic turnout the Democrats take that 9th seat. The maps don't favor one party or another they match what state voter registration and mirror the proportion of statewide vote totals each party receives fairly closely. It's not the crux of the article but it makes it sound like he was just fighting against Democratic gerrymandering in Arizona when more likely he was trying to turn it from fair maps to gerrymandered Maps which is a big difference than if he was fighting against Democratic gerrymandered maps. A correct way to accurately describe it would be if it said "he also assisted Court action against maps created by the independent redistricting Commission in Arizona which many Republicans felt did not favor Republicans enough." Ok rant over 😐

[czarjak]

2. Not racist though...

[Gothmog]

4. The GOP is the party of voter suppression