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Negative effects of gerrymandering
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Gerrymandering according to the text, (Barbour & Wright, 2015, p.195) is the process of drawing district lines to benefit one group or another. Just reading the meaning alone, you can see it not fair. By benefiting one group, you are leaving out or short changing other groups. According to the article (“Gerrymandering – Proving All Politics Is Local│Politics & Policy,” n.d.) gerrymandering works by shaping legislative districts in various ways. Officeholders are able to affect which voters they will be responsible to on election day. The opportunity for this arises out of the once-a-decade district re-apportionment required by a set of 1960s Supreme Court cases. As voters move into different congressional districts, the population in each of …show more content…
Many states consider “communities of interest” when drawing their districts. These groups may have similar legislative interests as well, and that means they can benefit from common representation in the government. But I feel this can be an advantage and disadvantage at the same time because that interest could be what the party is about or what they are trying to stop. But still giving the communities a chance to asks questions and give input should be highly considered since they are what make up the districts. The outcome of who wins may not be what everyone voted for but giving the voters the feeling that they matter is what’s important.
According to the text (Barbour & Wright, 2015, p.195) Racial gerrymandering, is when district lines are drawn to favor or disadvantage an ethnic or racial group while partisan gerrymandering is when districts are drawn to maximize the number of house seats a political party can win. Both of these types of gerrymandering is to benefit a group and hurt another group at the same time. They both discriminate, just one is based on race and the other the political party. In no way is this fair and should not be used to get the political party or candidate they want in
The history of gerrymandering is one that has caused some major shakeups in how politics are done. A man named Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts back in 1812, started it all. The governor had the idea of redistricting his states lines in order to benefit his political party. One specific district was so badly morphed that it almost resembled a salamander, and thus you get the name, gerrymandering (Barasch). But it didn’t just stop in 1812 Massachusetts; it became one of the most common strategies in American politics. We even see it happening in modern day. For example, Texas in 2003 had realigned its districts in such a way that it put ten Democratic Congressman in heavy red, conservative districts (Barasch). This move was done to lessen their power within the house. As a result, half of them were not voted back in for the next election. The act of gerrymandering is not just as simple as redrawing districts, the un...
Representation: the effort of elected officials to look out for the interests of those who elect them
In this essay, I will explain why Texas should retain the partisan election of judges. Texas is one of the few states that elect their judges using a Partisan voting method. Partisan elections can be unfair and can misinform the voter. A high legal position such as a judge should never be chosen in such a manner. Partisan elections often cost more than nonpartisan elections in campaigning. Partisan elections are also more likely to lead to straight ticket voting or mindless voting. Partisan elections also lead to more campaign contributions and can increase the power of constituencies. Lastly partisan elections can cause an imbalance in equal represent the population. Therefore, Partisanship voting does not belong in the courts of Texas and
Redistricting is the legislative political process of redrawing the geographic boundaries of congressional district based on population following the decennial census. Each state is obligated to adhere to certain Supreme Court requirements regarding redistricting. Respective districts within a state should ensure population equality, contiguity, compactness and no discrimination against minority. Districts can be drawn to protect incumbents. The process of deliberately modifying districts in order to increase the partisan advantage of a particular political party is called gerrymandering.
The candidates will have a better chance of getting elected.
To begin with, there are three fundamental concepts of redistricting. Population equality requires the same number of people in each district. Continuity requires that districts must be a continuous shape. Districts must be a compact shape, without jagged edges or extensions. Partisan gerrymandering requires that one party redistricts to give that party a majority in more districts. This controls
I noticed that when one political party covers almost the entirely of the map, their party will continue winning the election for several years. Like how the election of 1932, the democratic party had about 88% of the electors votes and about 60% of the popular votes. The democratic party continued to win the next four elections.
In election times gerrymandering is a common occurrence. Gerrymandering is the process of giving one political party the advantage over another political party. Gerrymandering has two successful practices, which is packing a district and cracking a district. The process of packing a district is that where the lines of districts are expanded to pack the opposing party voters into fewer districts. The process of cracking a district is where district lines are broken up so the opposition party gains fewer district votes. Both of these are consider the most effective practices in the process of gerrymandering.
When I was first assigned the issue of gerrymandering, I anticipated that the research process would be rather difficult. Admittedly, I did not know a lot about the issue of gerrymandering other than that it was a way for politicians to redraw and manipulate the Congressional Districts to favor their parties and personal interests. My research has shown that gerrymandering is a very serious problem that many Americans are unaware of. For so long, politicians have been able to control our elections by creating districts that are beneficial only to their own political aspirations.
The Equal protection clause forbids states from engaging in “racial gerrymandering.” Racial gerrymandering occurs when a state relies on race to draw up boundaries of one or more specific electoral districts. Such gerrymandering is impermissible because it harms an individual, who is subjected to a racial classification, and the individual’s legislator, who believes his primary obligation is to represent only a specific racial group. The Supreme Court views racial gerrymandering as so egregious that states cannot escape an equal protection challenge by drawing up some districts based on race but not others. As the Supreme Court clarified in Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama, 135 S. Ct. 1257 (2015), the fact that some districts are not racially motivated does not defeat a claim that other districts were.
This does not mean that every district has the same number of people. For example, Wisconsin have 8 congressional districts, 33 senate districts, and 99 assembly districts. Then, each of the 8 congressional districts have to have roughly the same number of people as each other, and each of the 33 senate districts have to have roughly the same population, and so on. According to the Wisconsin Constitution, there are some additional rules on reapportionment. The assembly district cannot be divided in the formation of the senate district. That is, the senate district needs to have a full number of assembly districts. In Wisconsin, the ratio is usually three assembly districts to one senate district. The districts need to be as compact as possible, as in the area of the district should be as close together as possible and not spread out in order to prevent political gerrymandering. Lastly, the redistricting needs to rely on previous political divisions such as town and
Voting is one of the citizens’ rights living in a country. In the past, not everyone can vote. Voting used to be for only white American men. However, our ancestors fought for that rights. Eventually, any American who are older than eighteen can vote, despite their race or gender. In addition, voter turnout is used to keep track of the voting. It is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Unfortunately, the voter turnout has been decreasing over time, and it means that there are less and fewer people who actually show up and vote. This essay will discuss the voter turnout in Harris County, Texas.
The legislative branch of America helps create the laws or legislation. Ideally, it works to create a society that is safe for all members. The State of California like the federal government has a bicameral legislature, in other words, composed of two chambers. The upper chamber is called the senate, while the lower is called the assembly. A unique process for the state level is that it allows for the initiative. This process circumvents the state congress and can create laws without their aide. In the state of California, every ten years, following a US census, which collects demographic information, state legislators draw redistricting plans for itself, California seats in the US House of Representatives, and the State Board of Equalization. There have been attempts to create a “non-partisan” redistricting commission, but this has been turned down by voters numerous times. Proposition 14, 39, 118, and 119 were all turned down by voters to create a non-partisan districting commission. Every decade a large portion of the state congress’s energy is spent on redistricting. In fact, two of the last four censuses, Supreme Court has had to step in to break a deadlock. In 1970, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, vetoed all together the Democratic redistricting plan. The Supreme Court had to step in and created its own plans for California to follow. Then in 1981, Democrats proposed redistricting as well as congressional delegation redistricting. The Republicans stopped this by adding referendums to the state ballot. Because it was too close to elections though, Supreme Court overturned these referendums in 1982. In 1984, they officially passed the new redistricting plan which was very similar to the original plans.
Gerrymandering by definition refers to “district line-drawing that purposefully maximizes seats for one party or voting bloc” (Davidson et al., 47). Two commons forms of gerrymandering are cracking and packing districts. Cracking refers to splitting a group of people up (often into two separate districts) to weaken party strength or group strength. Likewise, packing refers to placing a group of people into one district to strengthen the weight of a given groups (party/demographics) votes (Davidson et al., 47). Gerrymandering is an important concept to understand because it is often used by one party or another to dramatically affect the results of elections. Currently according to the authors of our text, the most common form is partisan gerrymandering. Here, congressional members of a state where one party controls uses that power to gerrymander and ensure safe seats for members of that same party. It’s extremely manipulative and squashes any chance of the minority party rising to power and becoming elected in that state. Even with laws put in place to punish those who engage in this practice, the act of gerrymandering continues. Gerrymandering is not overstated and needs addressed by all states regardless of party control. Such an act is prevalent in Ohio given that the GOP
I bet I can get more people to come out and vote in the next election. Many people feel that the problem of very few voters coming out is due to the present electoral college system used. They feel that their voices aren’t really being heard and that their votes don’t matter. So what if we made a change to the system being used? There are many different ways that the people would feel like their voices actually mattered. These proposals all have different names, and methods used to carry this out. These methods include: direct election with instant runoff voting, proportional allocation of electoral votes, direct vote with plurality rule, congressional district method, national bonus plan, and binding