About a year ago, we had noticed that Louisiana’s population had grown 2% between April 1, 2010 (the date the Census was last taken) and July 1, 2013. This past week, the Census released population estimates by county/parish as of July 1, 2014, and Louisiana (slow) population growth continued – the 2014 estimate showed there […]
Archive | Analysis
RSS feed for this section“One man, one vote” – Time to redistrict East Baton Rouge Parish’s District Court ?
HISTORY Appropriate minority representation in Louisiana’s judicial branch is an issue that has been much litigated over the years, and there is a reasonable likelihood of further litigation to come.
Decision 2014 – Behind the defeat of Mary Landrieu
After three terms of service, Senator Mary Landrieu was defeated in the December runoff 56-44%. While pundits attributed her defeat to the unpopularity of President Obama in Louisiana, the seeds of her defeat were sown long before that.
Decision 2014 – JMCEL scorecard as of August 31
Primary season is coming to a close – 44 states have now decided their party’s nominees for federal and statewide offices. Since Labor Day traditionally is the time that voters begin to pay attention to political campaigns, this is a good time to revise the scorecard.
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board – JMCEL’s alternative “5-4” plan
In a recent article, we had discussed and analyzed the recently revised redistricting plan for the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, given that they chose to shrink its size from 11 to 9 members. This redistricting plan was drawn with five white and four black majority districts, according to 2010 Census data. What this […]
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board
Decision 2014: Shrinking the (East Baton Rouge Parish School) Board Last night, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted 6-5 to reduce its membership from 11 to 9 members.
Decision 2014: Forecasting the November 2014 midterm election results
Will the 2014 midterm elections be a Republican blowout year, a mildly Republican year, or a year where Democrats “break even”? That is the central question of this election cycle, and you will get substantially different answers, depending on which political observers you talk to.
Decision 2014: Mississippi US Senate GOP runoff postmortem
Background (UPDATED 6/25 AM) With all but two precincts in Hinds County reporting, Senator Thad Cochran has improbably come back from what was to be a near certain defeat. How did he do so? Quite simply, Senator Cochran expanded the primary electorate by getting Democrats to vote in the Republican runoff – runoff turnout was 18% […]
Decision 2014: Mississippi US Senate GOP Runoff (JMCEL’s election night guide)
Background For the past three election cycles (2010, 2012, and 2014), Republican primaries/runoffs have an element of drama to them, as an ongoing tug of war has developed between those allied with “the Establishment” and those who are more sympathetic to party activists and are more TEA Party friendly.
Demographic changes in East Baton Rouge Parish – A quarter century “look back”
The Baton Rouge area is one part of Louisiana that does not have a well-defined image: John Maginnis once noted that “it was formed and is still largely controlled by outside forces.” Even today, it is inhabited by a “gumbo” of different groups: a large black minority of all economic strata, a significant professional population, […]