The Hofeller Files

More than a year after his death, a cache of computer files saved on the hard drives of Thomas Hofeller, a prominent Republican redistricting strategist, is becoming public.

Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports.

They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller's role in the Trump administration's failed push for a census citizenship question.

Source

If anyone wanted to know the ins and outs of gerrymandering, here you go.

Thomas Hofeller was the GOP's mastermind for redistricting. Upon his death his daughter took possession of all his files. While those files have been used in court to foil the GOP's plans for disenfranchising voters, as far as I'm aware, this is the first time these files have been available to the public.

There are now plenty of articles outlining the bulk of these files, but if you actually want to drive in for yourself, here you go:

The Hofeller Files

What has been done to stop the Democrats from their gerrymandering? It sounds like his files are only stopping one side from cheating and not both.

a reply to: Metallicus

Well when you get the files that confirm that narrative (I'm not saying the Dems don't do it) feel free to bring it to the courts.

From the start of redistricting , one side always argues that the controlling side is cheating.
Usually , the argument goes nowhere.
This isn't even news

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Both sides gerrymander.

Both sides have brought up lawsuits about it.

Courts have found that it is legal.

Get back to me when you get into the subject of dead people voting, illegal immigrants voting, ballot harvesting and Democratic Presidential candidates winning 115% of a precinct, 110% of a district....

Final nail.

a reply to: Gothmog

This isn't even news

Oh yeah. It’s such a non-story that political maps have been thrown out because of it.

Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports. They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller's role in the Trump administration's failed push for a census citizenship question.

I hate to break it to all you dim witted Republicans but not acknowledging something doesn’t make it go away.

lol. Just look at the so-called "districts" in a place like Atlanta. They meander like snakes across the landscape. Why? They are SPECIFICALLY written to "combat racism" by painting a district so that it is almost guaranteed a Black will win. The idea is to "increase minority representation in Congress." And you call out Republicans for gerrymandering???? What a friggin' joke!

a reply to: Xcalibur254

So since these were available to courts through filings, I would at the very least call it unethical to release a dead persons possessions to the public domain. Unless of course that person had a will stating that was there wish. I'm also not agreeing that what has been done with gerrymandering is right in any way. I just don't see how a persons child could release that type of information about them, I could see in the digital age being a law that could be passed.

a reply to: Hypntick
Once a person is dead, they no longer have a right to privacy.
That being said, my state had a "gerrymandering problem", judges stepped in and redrew the districts, and they are even worse than the proposed gerrymandered map... just going the other way.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: Gothmog

This isn't even news

Oh yeah. It’s such a non-story that political maps have been thrown out because of it.

Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina fought in court to keep copies of these maps, spreadsheets and other documents from entering the public record. But some files have already come to light in recent months through court filings and news reports. They have been cited as evidence of gerrymandering that got political maps thrown out in North Carolina, and they have raised questions about Hofeller's role in the Trump administration's failed push for a census citizenship question.

I hate to break it to all you dim witted Republicans but not acknowledging something doesn’t make it go away.

They throw out a lot of redistricting maps .
That's what they do...
See the part of my post where the other side always claim cheating .
Been going on as long as I can remember .
And that is a long time.
Again, this isn't even news

a reply to: underwerks

Have you seen the map of the Congressional Districts in NC lately? Its almost comical.

originally posted by: schuyler
lol. Just look at the so-called "districts" in a place like Atlanta. They meander like snakes across the landscape.

Agreed.

The law should require that federal districts be drawn as closely as possible to simple squares, allowing for the fact that States are not square (meaning, the districts that go to the border will never be perfectly square).

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
...have been used in court to foil the GOP's plans for disenfranchising voters...

This single statement from you kind of negates your whole argument. Are you saying the only reason the GOP wants to redraw districts is to disenfranchise voters? What about when the Dems want to redraw districts? Do you really believe it's in the interests of everyone vs helping themselves win? I doubt that's what your saying but come on, they both do it to keep themselves in power.

a reply to: thov420

I'm saying that these specific files have been used in court to prevent the GOP from disenfranchising voters. These files don't originate with the Dems, nor were they the defendant in these cases. So why would I bring them up? That would be a non-sequitur.