2. What is gerrymandering?
Rose Institute:|
Gerrymandering is the manipulative redrawing of district boundaries to the advantage of a political party or candidate, rather than a fair redrawing simply to reflect population changes. Abusive redistricting was termed "Gerrymandering" in 1812 when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry approved a plan designed to weaken the Federalist Party and strengthen his Democratic-Republican Party. A cartoonist drew wings onto a salamander-shaped district in Gerry's plan, and the term "Gerrymander" was born. There are two primary ... gerrymandering techniques. The first is called "packing," in which voters from one party are concentrated into one district. This gives the party a large majority in that district and removes them from the surrounding districts, making all of those districts less competitive as well. A second technique is called "cracking." To "crack" an area that has a primarily Democratic or Republican voter concentration, district lines are drawn to separate the population of that area into several different districts. This technique reduces the voting influence of the party in the "cracked" area. |
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