Question

Describe the history of the term gerrymandering and how it has been used in practice.

Answer 1

In U.S. politics, Gerrymandering involves drawing the borders of electoral districts in a way that provides an unfair advantage to one political party over its rivals (political or ideological gerrymandering) or dilutes the voting power of representatives of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). The term is derived from the name of the Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, whose administration passed a law in 1812 establishing new state senatorial districts. The law consolidated the vote of the Federalist Party in a few districts and thus gave Democratic-Republicans a disproportionate representation.

Redistricting takes place roughly every ten years in each state in the United States, following the decennial census. This determines geographic boundaries, with each district within a state being geographically contiguous and having roughly the same number of voters. The resulting map affects the representation of the U.S. House of Representatives members of the state and the legislative bodies of the state.

Typical forms of gerrymandering in the United States take the form of electoral gerrymandering, where redistricting is aimed at increasing or harming one political party; legislative gerrymandering used by various political parties to shield incumbents; and racial gerrymandering, aimed at reducing the influence of minority voters.