# Self-selected congressional districts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 29, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867 "2010-08-29T04:34:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867/21 "2010-08-30T14:45:01Z")

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> [@acsenray](#):
>
> Wouldn’t proportional representation or automatic vote transferring be a better way of accomplishing the same thing?

Absolutely.

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**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867/22 "2010-08-30T14:54:41Z")

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> [@godix](#):
>
> Personally, I think districts should be based on actual voters rather than # of people in general. Poor urban districts, for example, may have 100,000 voters while areas of richer elderly would have 300,000 voters even though both represent the same population. Which means for some areas, it’s easier for a determined block to gain large influence compared to other areas with more voters. So districts should be based on actual people voting to restrict this. Since we already redraw the districts every decade or so, it wouldn’t any harder to keep up with changing voter trends than it is to keep up with changing population centers.

Oh, sure, give retirees even more power. :rolleyes: You know why retirees vote in higher numbers? They’re bored. You know why working people vote in lower numbers? They’re tired. Your suggestion would just exacerbate the gerontocracy.

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**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867/23 "2010-08-30T14:59:17Z")

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I am in substantial agreement with the OP’s ideas. Of course, until we get the law changed, it is incumbent on all those who care about how their country is run to change their districts within the present system. The mobile society needs to get more mobile.

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**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-selected-congressional-districts/551867/24 "2010-08-31T00:10:14Z")

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> [@MaxTheVool](#):
>
> I think that the entire idea of congressional districts with geographic boundaries is a fundamentally silly and outmoded one.  
> But that’s neither here nor there.

At first glance, I agree with you, but in actual practical use, you’ve got to split up the population amongst the representatives. It’s hard to be receptive to a district of 10 million. You can actually field an office to handle the needs of a few hundred thousand, though.

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