Who is gerrymandering

While these states take redistricting out of the hands of the entire legislature, the process is highly political, or partisan , and often results in gerrymandering districts. The 10 states that use politician commissions are:. The term gerrymander is derived from the name of a Massachusetts governor in the early s, Elbridge Gerry. Charles Ledyard Norton, writing in the book Political Americanisms , blamed Gerry for signing into a law a bill in "readjusting the representative districts so as to favor the Democrats and weaken the Federalists, although the last-named party polled nearly two-thirds of the votes cast.

Norton explained the emergence of the epithet "gerrymander" this way:. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance.

Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Issues The U. Legal System U. Foreign Policy U. Liberal Politics U. Tom Murse. Political Journalist. Tom Murse has been writing about politics and government for over two decades, and has been recognized by the Nieman Foundation for fairness in investigative reporting.

Twitter Twitter. Updated January 15, Cite this Article Format. Murse, Tom. Some state constitutions offer more favorable legal grounds for attacking gerrymanders than the national Constitution does. It will probably also give new momentum to citizen-led campaigns to take map-drawing away from state politicians entirely, and give the task to independent redistricting commissions instead.

Ballot initiatives last year in Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Utah overhauled the redistricting process in those states, and advocacy groups are preparing similar campaigns in Virginia and elsewhere. Some historians trace partisan mapmaking to Patrick Henry, who is said to have drawn a Virginia House district for the first congressional election, in , to ensure the defeat of his rival, James Madison other historians take issue with that claim.

When he was governor of Massachusetts in , Mr. Gerry signed a bill allowing his party to draw State Senate districts that were meant to favor its candidates over the rival Federalists. Some footnotes to that history: Mr. Gerry may have been unfairly tarred; there is no clear evidence that he supported the maps his party drew. And they did not help his party for very long: the Federalists won control of the Senate the following year.

What Is Gerrymandering? And How Does it Work? What is gerrymandering? Where is gerrymandering most notable now? But within a couple of decades, computer technology made it easier for political operatives to strategically map districts to benefit their party under the new rules.

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