Curricing: Citizen-Based Redistrictions In The United States

Created by Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, who signed the bill in 1811, gerrymandering is the redrawing of electoral district lines to give advantage to a particular party or candidate. Because the distribution of the population changes in many states over the course of 10 years, many congressional district boundaries must be redrawn even in those states that have neither gained nor lost congressional seats due to reapportionment. This is because of the Supreme Court’s ruling that districts within states must be roughly equal in population size. Although congressional districts must hold approximately equal numbers of citizens, state legislatures are relatively free to draw district lines where they choose. The party that controls

In 2008, California created a citizen-based redistricting commission where they voted in favor of Proposition 11, also known as the Voter First Act, which transferred the control of the redistricting process from the legislatures to an independent commission comprised of citizens. It is believed that it is the most efficient method to limit the influence of partisanship in the redistricting process. On the other hand, Texas, which comprises of 36 congressional districts, has had a history of using redistricting to dilute the influence of minorities. Therefore, it has turned a blind eye to partisan redistricting in which parties try to draw district lines to their own advantage. In 2003, Texas’s election districts have been redrawn when Republicans took control of the state government. From the redrawn districts, there were more than a million people that were added to the Texas population which produced districts that failed to give all of the state’s voters equal representation in Congress. These new arrivals were not distributed equally, and it was likely that they were disproportionately