What is gerrymandering & why does it matter?

Anyone listening to news broadcasts or political podcasts during the last few years has heard the term “gerrymandering” a lot.

John Oliver covered gerrymandering in one of his segments:

But what does “gerrymandering” mean?

The simplest definition of “gerrymandering” is drawing boundaries around electoral districts to give one political party an advantage over the other. Another way to define it is as the cherry-picking–or careful selection–of voters who reliably vote for one party. Republicans endeavor to create voting districts where voters are sympathetic to Republican positions, while Democrat politicians do the same with Democratic voters. Voting boundaries can also be drawn to break up neighborhoods or blocks of people that might share ethnic or other characteristics to dilute their voting power.

The result is often geographic voting areas with unpredictable and (seemingly) randomly placed boundaries.

The term “gerrymandering” comes from the name of a nineteenth-century politician, Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. In 1812 he and his administration were responsible for enacting a law that defined new senatorial districts in Massachusetts. One of the newly created districts (drawn to give more power to Gerry’s party, the Democratic-Republicans) was said to resemble an animal or lizard. A satirical political cartoonist of the time mocked the new district’s boundaries that made it look like a salamander and labeled it the “Gerry-mander.”

How does gerrymandering work?

Gerrymandering is a highly effective tool that allows political parties and candidates in power to rig elections to stay in control. When deciding which voters get to vote in which districts, people who gerrymander can engage in two tactics: “cracking” and “packing.”

In “cracking,” lines are drawn to break up the power of groups of people who would likely vote one way or another. For instance, if politicians see a large group of people with similar political viewpoints or class similarities in one area, they might draw borders through that area to break up such groups. Republicans might want to break up a very Democratic-voting area to have fewer votes in more districts. Then Republicans would have a better chance of winning in those districts where the Democratic vote would be more minor.

In “packing,” lines are drawn to minimize the number of elections certain groups can win by putting all their voters into one district. For example, Democrats might conspire to draw a district that includes all the Republican voters in a larger area, meaning Republicans would win that district overwhelmingly but would have less voting power in surrounding districts.

Why is gerrymandering such an important issue?

Gerrymandering is used to manipulate elections; it causes several bad outcomes. First, Gerrymandering takes away the rights of citizens to easily organize themselves along neighborhood lines or within logical geographical areas. It can make it difficult to know even the basics of the voting process, like which district you are in and for which government representatives you may vote.

Elections are viewed as the primary means of change in a democracy. If one party or politician uses their power to influence future elections and those possibilities for change unfairly, voters will become convinced over time that their vote no longer matters.

Gerrymandering rewards extremism by allowing individuals who are willing to manipulate the voting process to consolidate their power. Without facing a viable political opponent, individuals can develop ever more extreme views to appeal to their voters in their hand-picked districts. Gerrymandering weakens the power of every individual’s vote and democracy as a whole.

Why is gerrymandering wrong?

Gerrymandering has many negative consequences; for one, it can lead to extreme partisanship and gridlock within government, as politicians are less likely to work together when they know they have safe seats. In addition, Gerrymandering undermines democracy by making elections less competitive and voters’ voices less heard. In short, Gerrymandering is terrible because it prevents people from participating effectively in politics and weakens our democratic system.

How do we fix gerrymandering?

One of the most common ways to fix Gerrymandering is to create independent, nonpartisan committees to draw district lines. This takes power away from politicians who may be tempted to redraw districts in a way that benefits their party. Another solution is to use a computer program to draw districts based on objective criteria, such as population density. This can help create more balanced districts and represent the overall electorate. Finally, some states have implemented “fair share” plans, which require both parties to be equally represented in each district. While there is no perfect solution to Gerrymandering, these methods can help create fairer and more representative districts.

Most importantly, you can vote in politicians who advocate for redistricting reform and are anti-gerrymandering even for their own party. For information on how to vote or voting generally, visit:

https://www.usa.gov/voting

https://www.vote.org/