What is Gerrymandering?

In 1787, our Founding Fathers came to an agreement known as “The Great Compromise”. The deal called for two chambers of Congress to be created to form the legislative branch of the federal government. The lower chamber to be named the House of Representatives and the upper chamber to be called the Senate. The goal was to bring equal representation for each American to the decision-making process of our infant government.

The Senate was to name two members per state, regardless of size, to serve six-year terms each. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives was designed to reflect each state’s population distribution, with these members serving two-year terms.

But has the current government system remained true to the spirit of equal representation that was coveted by our Founders?

Technically, yes.

States with larger population like Florida or California are apportioned more congressional seats than less populated states like Montana or North Dakota. However, while more representation may be equal based on population markers, accurate ideological representation of constituents is hardly accounted for in many of those congressional districts.

Enter gerrymandering, a funny sounding word used to describe how congressional district boundaries are drawn to give one political party an advantage over the other. Something the Founders didn’t see coming.

Imagine a geographical grid of 100 voters with the political ideologies represented by the color blue and red. The region is made up of 40% blue voters and 60% red voters. Now, if the district’s lines are drawn in a consistent manner, the number of elected red and blue candidates should match up the political makeup of the region perfectly – four candidates for blue, six for red.

However, after every national census, states are required to redraw congressional districts to address population movement. That’s when shenanigans happen.

If the political party in power is able to control the redistricting process, they can draw the district boundaries in odd, irrational shapes in order to gain an advantage over the other party in the next election. The end result: an unrepresentative governmental body where one party has gained the system to get more votes than the other in Congress.

So, if you ever see congressional districts that look like a blindfolded pre-schooler drew them, you now know that gerrymandering was involved.