When voters cast ballots for state representatives last fall, millions of Americans essentially had no choice: Political scientists say a major reason for the lack of choices is the way districts are drawn — gerrymandered, in some cases, to ensure as many comfortable seats as possible for the majority party by creating other districts overwhelmingly packed with voters for the minority party. "With an increasing number of districts being drawn to deliberately favor one party over another — and with fewer voters indicating an interest in crossover voting — lots of potential candidates will look at those previous results and come to a conclusion that it's too difficult to mount an election campaign in a district where their party is the minority," said John McGlennon, a longtime professor of government and public policy at the College of William & Mary in Virginia who has tracked partisan competition in elections. In districts dominated by one party, election battles are fought mostly in the primaries; the winner from the majority party becomes a virtual shoo-in to win the general election. —In Georgia, just 31 of the 180 state House districts featured both Republican and Democratic candidates, a nation-high uncontested rate of 83 percent. University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock said the large number of uncompetitive districts in his home state may be due less to gerrymandering than to naturally segregated demographics, with Democratic-inclined black residents living in different areas than Republican-leaning white voters. Several Democratic Georgia lawmakers teamed up with Republican state Sen.
Similar Stories to Democracy With No Choices: Many Candidates Run Unopposed on Bing News
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: Politics
Sun, 06/25/2017 - 1:57am
Topics: political john mcglennon college william mary virginia in georgia house university charles bullock democratic-inclined republican-leaning several democratic georgia sen josh mckoon in georgia republican democratic choices candidates districts party state voters election professor drawn number majority
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