Gerrymandering

Submission 7,141

Part of a series on Politics / Government. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Gerrymandering is a term used to describe the act of redistricting voting boundaries of an electoral map to better favor one political party over another. While the practice has been used to ensure proper representation for electoral districts, it has been the subject of much debate within government as partisan gerrymandering has created, what some believe, are unfair and irregular voting maps that do not reflect the values and/or political beliefs of a majority of the electorate.

Background

The term "Gerrymander" is a portmanteau of the name Eldridge Gerry and salamander. According to Smithsonian,^[1] In March 1812, the Massachusetts Governor Eldrich Gerry signed a redistricting bill to benefit the Democrat-Republican Party (not to be confused with the modern Democrat and Republican political parties). The new districts were considered so irregular that the Boston Gazette newspaper published a political cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale depicting the district as a dragon-like creature (shown below).

In an 1892 article by John Ward Dean,^[2] described the illustration as it was shown at a dinner party. During which poet Richard Alsop suggested calling the creature a "Gerrymander." He wrote:

Nathan Hale drew the geographical figure, which J. G. Cogswell exhibited at a dinner party at Col. Thorndike's, where the animal first came into notice. Mr. Tisdale sketched the wings, and after several propositions respecting the name that Gerrymander was suggested by Mr. Alsop.

Developments

In Popular Culture

As the practice of Gerrymandering continued to be used throughout the 20th and 21st century, various videos both for the internet and television circulated to help explain the process. On July 12th, 2011, YouTuber CGP Grey posted the video "Gerrymandering Explained." The post received more than 2.9 million views in less than 10 years (shown below).

On November 9th, 2015, the television series Adam Ruins Everything posted a video that described the practice as illegal. The post received more than 4.2 million views in four years (shown below, left).

Two years later, on April 9th, 2017, Last Week Tonight published a segment on the subject. The post received more than 8.6 million views in two years (shown below, right).

Supreme Court Decision

On June 27th, 2019, the New York Times^[3] reported that the Supreme Court had voted, in a 5-to-4 decision, to bar the federal government from interfering in partisan gerrymandering, allowing state governments to continue the practice.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the court's dissent on the decision. She criticized the decision, writing, "“The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the court’s role in that system is to defend its foundations. None is more important than free and fair elections.

2020 Presidential candidates denounced the decision. Senator Elizabeth Warren included a plan to get rid of the practice in a "plan to protect U.S. election." She tweeted, ^[4] "Here’s what’s covered under my new plan to protect U.S. elections: 🗳️ No more voter registration problems🗳️ No more voter purges 🗳️ No more gerrymandering 🗳️ Election Day will be a federal holiday." The tweet received more than 13,000 likes and 3,200 retweets in 24 hours (Shown below, left).

Senator Kamala Harris tweeted,^[5] "Make no mistake: SCOTUS just gave the green light for racial gerrymandering that will be disguised as partisan. They have effectively paved the way for diluting the votes of communities of color. This decision is completely undemocratic and a stain on our Constitution." The tweet received more than 5,000 likes and 1,200 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tweeted^[6] in support of the practice, saying that it helps tip the scales toward smaller and rural districts. He wrote, "This map says it all. Democrats win by big margins in places like Madison (which counts the same as any other vote in statewide races) but that doesn’t mean they should have a larger share of the seats just because they win by big margins in some districts." The post was the subject of a Twitter Ratio, receiving more than 2,000 comments, 480 likes and 90 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, right).