For another group of states those using commissions to redistrict partisan outcomes are more difficult to game out. Even Democrats were unwilling to go this far in their voting reform legislation. They control the shape of districts to gain electoral advantage. Gerrymandering has become common in American politics and is often blamed for the gridlock in Congress, polarization of the electorate and disenfranchisement among voters. In the instance that gave the "gerrymander" its name . In this strategy, congressional districts are drawn in order to put as many people likely to vote for one party in the same district. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/learning/lesson-plans/lesson-of-the-day-a-gerrymandering-game.html. In massive victories for Republicans, North Carolinas newly GOP-controlled state Supreme Court has thrown out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased, Minnesota a state where it is already easy to vote is moving make it even easier, countering the national trend of states imposing further restrictions on balloting. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/gerrymandering-1435417. To understand whats about to go down, we have to delve into whats happening in the states. If yes, why? Rosenberg, Matt. As an example of how powerful packing and cracking can be, lets imagine we have a state with 500 Democratic and 500 Republican voters perfectly evenly divided overall. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. It's the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. The redrawing of maps that followed produced some of the most extreme gerrymanders in history. What happened was, it led to complete Republican dominance of virtually every state south of the Mason-Dixon line. So its sort of like taking our fight against racism, and the advancements weve made and the laws weve used and literally turning them around on their head and saying, These are the laws you want and you fought for? Then, debate with your classmates: Which of these options do you think is the most fair? This method of gerrymandering involves diluting the voting power of the opposition across many districts, preventing the opposition from having a majority vote in as many districts as possible. Describe the two ways that officials gerrymander a district? Miles Coleman at the Center for Politics and Stephen Wolf for Daily Kos Elections, and Dave Wassermans coverage for the Cook Political Report is also essential. Thats because states are required by law to redraw all 435 congressional and legislative boundaries based on the decennial census every 10 years. MARTIN: So could you just start simple for people who may be a long way away from their last civics class? Reapportionment & Redistricting Webquest Answer Sheet.docx The problem for Democrats: Republicans simply control more of these states. Where gerrymanderers once had to pick from a few maps drawn by hand, they now can create and pick from thousands of computer-generated maps. Describe the two ways that officials gerrymander a district? Understand the definition and two types of gerrymandering, the effects of gerrymandering on elections, and historical examples. The commissions used in different states vary quite a bit, and much may hinge on precisely who is selected to them. However, in the big sense, it rendered us powerless in that the surrounding white communities and representatives didnt need us, and they could label our party as the black party. Having lost their voting strength, Democrats are now running up against the reality that Republicans are firmly in control of mapmaking in a majority of states. You hold a town hall meeting and all you ever hear is, Right on, keep doing what youre doing, and dont you dare compromise. Both parties have long played the redistricting game. Behavioral Geography Data & Uses | What is Behavioral Geography? So what do those two things have in common? Want more Lessons of the Day? 2. I think it is really hard to think about that. I just think FAHEY: It is. Instead, the majority of African Americans lived in cities along Interstate 85. The physical impact of gerrymandering can be seen on any map of congressional districts. The Voting Rights Act and the Constitution prohibit racial discrimination in redistricting. But gerrymandering has also changed dramatically since the founding: today, intricate computer algorithms and sophisticated data about voters allow map drawers to game redistricting on a massive scale with surgical precision. And Katie Fahey is with us now. Some states impanel special commissions. If you could pack many of the Democrats into just two districts where they have an overwhelming advantage, and crack the remaining Democrats across the other eight, youd get a result like this where Republicans are set to dominate an evenly divided state just because of how the lines are drawn. Larry Hogan from the process) and one in New Mexico. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Create your account. Because communities change, redistricting is critical to our democracy: maps must be redrawn to ensure that districts are equally populated, comply with laws such as the Voting Rights Act, and are otherwise representative of a states population. When you find people who are in tears because you lost, then you know that you have not only stirred the emotions, but also the hope. Today, Clayton feels that a minority candidate like herself can appeal to everyone. MARTIN: And I do want to point out that this is something that has - both parties have been accused of this, and both parties have been successfully litigated against. Any election year ending in zero because it's a census year are the years that redistricting happened, which is what has made 2020 so extra-important - because it will have implications between now and 2030. The same was true for Democrats. States where they could do so include Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and New Hampshire. They were able to then secure those legislators, and then those legislators drew gerrymandered maps that then have allowed them to not only just get reelected, but there was a full strategy to then take out conservative legislation - kind of take the same bill across all the states they were able to gerrymander and then push them into the legislature. I want to just be clear that both parties have been accused of this, and both parties have been successfully sued because of this. And it creates districts of voters who are socioeconomically, racially or politically alike so that members of Congress are safe from potential challengers and, as a result, have little reason to compromise with their colleagues from the other party. Some redistricting commissions are expected to resist political influence and act independently from the parties and the elected officials in that state.
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