The six states with the smallest populations have just one, whereas other states each have between two and 52. Reapportionment of Representatives (not US Senators, as these are set at two/state) for the 435-member US Congress is fixed by a formula whereby all states have at least one representative. 2, Constitution of the United States) Rationale for Redistricting The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative (Art. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. shall be apportioned among the several States. However, the redrawing of congressional district boundaries itself is not only legal but required and necessary in a representative democracy such as the US because geographically-define districts are apportioned by population and populations change over time.Ī principal function of the US Decennial Census is to count people for the purpose of redrawing congressional district lines so that votes continue to be proportional. The intent was to benefit the Democratic-Republican party by creating districts that the party could win because they linked areas with a majority of voters for that party, and it worked. The 1812 cartoon artist was critical, as many were at the time, of the tortuous boundaries of the new Massachusetts congressional district that Governor Gerry signed into law. 1 - "The Gerry-Mander," an 1812 political cartoon in the Boston Centinel Is gerrymandering ethical? Read on to learn about the finer points of "cracking" and "packing," and you will find out! Redistricting and Gerrymandering: Definitionįirst, let's look at the original "Gerry-Mander":įig. The Democratic-Republican party at the time created a congressional district around Boston said to be in the shape of a salamander, and the evocative name stuck. The word is a portmanteau of Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts governor in 1812, and "salamander," a mythical, fire-breathing creature. The Gerrymander is quite common you may live in an area that has been gerrymandered. In this explanation, you will be introduced to a creature known as the "Gerrymander." The beast (pictured below), is a mainstay of electoral geography, the branch of political geography that looks at how voting districts are drawn and redrawn. In America, voters don't pick their politicians.
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