# Gerrymander Fail
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [August 28, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200 "2015-08-28T18:58:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/21 "2015-09-02T11:21:06Z")
So, have the movie rights been sold yet?
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### Author:  [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/22 "2015-09-02T15:35:17Z")
Oh great. Now I can’t think of the name of that movie with the single voter in the district (or was it a short story?)
I’m feeling old
ETA: I thought it was earlier than [Swing Vote(2008)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Vote_%282008_film%29)
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/23 "2015-09-02T15:53:42Z")
Can’t the city council just redraw the boundaries of the district, or is she located such that doing so would cut out too much of it?
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### Author:  [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/24 "2015-09-05T08:00:35Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> Let’s not exaggerate. OTOH, it will be interesting to see what kind of new sportscar she’s driving next semester…
I hope she gets a VERY expensive sports car and then votes No. What are the business owners going to say? “Hey we bribed her good, and she reneged.”
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/25 "2015-09-05T09:54:05Z")
> [@SantaMan](#):
>
> Oh great. Now I can’t think of the name of that movie with the single voter in the district (or was it a short story?)
> I’m feeling old
>
> ETA: I thought it was earlier than [Swing Vote(2008)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Vote_%282008_film%29)
[Franchise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchise_(short_story)), by Isaac Asimov?
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### Author:  [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/26 "2015-09-05T15:16:39Z")
I remember it as a movie where a key district only had one voter and the final stinger was “XXXX was a good guy, too bad I didn’t vote for him”
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### Author:  [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/27 "2015-09-07T17:02:12Z")
> [@SantaMan](#):
>
> Oh great. Now I can’t think of the name of that movie with the single voter in the district (or was it a short story?)
> I’m feeling old
>
> ETA: I thought it was earlier than [Swing Vote(2008)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Vote_%282008_film%29)
There was the _Popeye_ cartoon _Popeye for President_, where Popeye and Bluto are running for President and it turns out that it’s a tie, and only one person (Olive Oyl) hasn’t voted yet.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/28 "2015-09-08T06:25:36Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> And y’all know what prolly escalated getting in touch with Miss Henderson from “difficult” to the level of “nearly impossible”? The fact that she was at the meeting.
Well, the last place they’d have thought to look for her.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/29 "2015-09-08T14:24:48Z")
> [@davidm](#):
>
> Can’t the city council just redraw the boundaries of the district, or is she located such that doing so would cut out too much of it?
Redrawing the district probably isn’t that simple. These things come with regulations. It might be simpler to close down the district and start a new one.
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### Author:  [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/30 "2015-09-08T16:08:55Z")
From the cited article:
> [@](#):
>
> organizers say it should bring in about $50,000 annually.
> [@](#):
>
> “Taxing their food is kind of sad, especially when” Gartner “is going to be making like $70,000 a year off of this whole deal,” Henderson said.
How does a $215,000 investment expected to net $50K/yr revenue profit one person $70,000 annually?
Look, I know it reeks, I’m just trying to separate truth from fertilizer here.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/31 "2015-09-15T15:13:57Z")
I’m not going to tease out the costs, but the original district levied an assessment on property tax. That’s still in place and coming in yearly. The new sales tax is on top of that.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/32 "2015-09-17T20:27:48Z")
> [@davidm](#):
>
> Can’t the city council just redraw the boundaries of the district, or is she located such that doing so would cut out too much of it?
Redrawing the district to cut out the single voter who currently resides there would be a pretty obvious ploy. I doubt that any court would be fooled by that. It could be easily challenged by anyone with standing, like the voter herself, or anybody who purchased something and was charged the extra sales tax. And the ensuing legal costs would take a big bite out of the projected revenue. Assuming the court didn’t put a hold order on collecting the tax while the case makes it’s way thru the courts.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/33 "2015-09-18T16:46:46Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#):
>
> There was the _Popeye_ cartoon _Popeye for President_, where Popeye and Bluto are running for President and it turns out that it’s a tie, and only one person (Olive Oyl) hasn’t voted yet.
Sounds like the **Blackadder III** episode “Dish and Dishonesty,” where they plot to get Baldrick elected to Parliament in the rotten borough of Dunny-on-the-Wold.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/34 "2015-09-18T17:38:38Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> Couldn’t they businesses just pay a bunch of employees to relocate to district so register to vote in the election? Isn’t that was Disney does with the Reedy Creek Improvement District?
No. Disney first obtained permission from the circuit court to create a drainage district, which let them reroute water sources and so on. Later on they got the legislature to pass a [special law](http://law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1968/37569-0.html) forming the Improvement District. Everyone who lives within the boundaries of the district is a Disney employee, but none of them own land so none of them have voting rights under the district’s charter. The board that governs the district is made up of five executives who “own” undeveloped plots, which are the only land in the district not directly owned by the corporation. That gives them all voting rights.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/35 "2015-09-22T20:12:42Z")
What? Oh, different case. Florida bases voting rights on land ownership, not residency?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/36 "2015-09-22T20:33:23Z")
For water management districts, yes. Otherwise, no.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/37 "2015-09-22T21:13:53Z")
So could she propose to eliminate all CID-enacted property and sales taxes then voting on it? Because if someone was trying to make me unregister so I couldn’t vote on issues that affect me, that’s the least I would do.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/38 "2016-06-23T08:01:46Z")
Bump - any updates on this? Just curious.
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2016, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/39 "2016-06-23T12:52:34Z")
[Lawsuit filed against the Business Loop CID](http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/lawsuit-filed-against-the-business-loop-cid/article_ac4e2850-b982-11e5-b012-eb9c1282fdb5.html), January 12/2016
The upshot is that they eventually found a few other people living in the district and the tax passed on a vote of 4-3. Our original only voter has launched a lawsuit saying the vote was hinky.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gerrymander-fail/729200/40 "2016-06-23T20:07:28Z")
Maybe instead of stuffing the ballot box with votes, the business stuffed the district with voters.
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