Gerrymandering Why does Gerrymandering hurt our political system

Gerrymandering Why does Gerrymandering hurt our political system?

Do Now: Take a look at the following maps! How can redrawing the map impact congressional elections?

Representation of the Population? 2014 two Senators represented 897, 934 Delawarans and the same number of Senators represented 38 million Californians. House Representatives are supposed to fix the problem associated with larger populations being underrepresented by the

DISCUSS! Based on the following 3 slides, why do Republicans seem to have such an advantage over Democrats?

How do political parties have an advantage? Gerrymandering can help swing election outcomes where either Republicans or Democrats can win certain elections.

What is gerrymandering? https: //news. vice. com/story/gerryman dering-american-democracy How was gerrymandering established? Why does the practice of gerrymandering persist?

How did it all begin? Gerrymandering = Gerry + Salamander - - Elbridge Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts in 1812 He helped to create congressional districts to favor the electoral chance of Democrat- Republicans They were oddly shaped and looked like a salamander

How are Congressional districts created? Every 10 years, state legislatures create congressional districts for members of the House of Representatives to represent. - The state legislatures should use new census data to account for populations movements They must have roughly equivalent populations so that all state residents are represented in a proportional way.

Political Parties want to win during census years! The party with a majority in state legislature runs the redistricting process. That’s why it pays to have a majority in the year after the census is taken! Gerrymandered districts have boundaries that are designed to favor the political interests of the party drawing those boundaries.

Cracking vs. Packing Cracking splits a block of opposition voters into several districts so that their influence is limited This prevents a large block of voters from getting a representative from their party Packing concentrates opposition voters in only a few districts - This allows the other party to win a majority in the remaining districts

Gerrymandering + Incumbent Advantage Gerrymandering can create a number of SAFE DISTRICTS in which candidates of one party are virtually impossible to defeat Why? Because they are packed with a majority of voters from their party Creating SAFE districts is yet another way to protect incumbents and prevent challengers from getting reelected.

DISCUSS! Should the congressional redistricting be reformed? Who should be responsible for redrawing the maps? Why?

Top Gerrymandered Districts

North Carolina How could the following districts be considered controversial?

12 th District In North Carolina, the state legislature is responsible for drawing both congressional and state legislative district lines.

The 12 th District is Very Controversial North Carolina's congressional district map has been the source of ongoing controversy and litigation. The map was thrown out by a federal court in February 2016. State lawmakers drafted a new map and delayed the state's congressional primary from March 15 to June 7. On June 27, 2016, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would hear Mc. Crory v. Harris , the state's appeal of the lower court's decision to throw out the map.

The Outcome On August 11, 2016, a federal court ruled that North Carolina's state legislative district map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander. Although the court allowed the existing map to be used for the 2016 general election, it did order state lawmakers to draft a new map at their next legislative session.

Summary: Name one way that the system of drawing congressional districts could be reformed.