• PugJesus@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      71
      ·
      7 months ago

      Yeah, Texas is a reliable GOP vote. Which means losing it would be a massive blow to GOP electoral chances.

      • netburnr@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        Not all of us, just need more of y’all to move here and water down their vote. Problem is the germandering makes populated places less impacting than the uneducated rural areas.

        • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          27
          ·
          7 months ago

          There’s enough of us here to do it already, we just need to actually go out and vote and we can win the state-wide and presidential elections here. In 2020 Biden received more votes in Texas than in New York. The metro area populations of Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio are more than half the state population. If Harris County’s efforts to expand mail-in voting (by sending mail-in ballots to all ~2.4M registered voters in the county) Biden may have won the state, as he only lost by ~620k.

          • netburnr@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            7 months ago

            I vote every time and post in the Austin community as much as I dare to encourage others. That’s about all I can do.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              7 months ago

              You can volunteer on campaigns! There are roles for people less socially inclined - stuffing mailers and such. Every little bit of help will be welcome.

        • PugJesus@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          7 months ago

          Gerrymandering has a very limited effect on presidential elections, which is what was mentioned.

          • squiblet@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            12
            ·
            7 months ago

            Voter suppression and other unequal access to voting make a big difference. For instance, the “one drop off box per county” bs they schemed up, inadequate in-person facilities in urban areas leading to long lines, and how people don’t get voting day off work. Not to mention the fascist chuds planning to stand around with guns at voting facilities to “monitor”.

          • zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            7 months ago

            It still has a big indirect impact. People are less likely to vote if they feel like their vote doesn’t matter as much, and someone in a heavily gerrymandered state does in fact have their vote matter less, at least locally. Turnout would probably be measurably higher if the districts were fair or competitive.

            There are other indirect effects too - there are plenty of states where Republicans are only able to pass voter-suppressing policies because of the legislative edge they hold thanks to gerrymandering.