Electoral System: Corrupt Elections In The United States

The gerrymandering process allows the majority party within a given state to maximize the number of seats it can win in the future elections. This leads it into creating as many districts as possible where it constitutes the majority. By doing this, those who support the minority parties are packed into the remaining few districts. This results in more electoral security for the minority party and less electoral security for the members of the minority parties. It also produces greater homogeneity within the districts while reducing competition for the house seats. Apart from the positive effects of gerrymandering, there are a number of negative effects associated with partisan gerrymandering. This process results in more competitive districts when compared to the non competitive districts and this in turn ambiguously affects polarization. Partisan gerrymandering also affects the state legislative electoral competitiveness as it has severe partisan biases. Excessive partisan gerrymandering is the violation of the equal protection clause since it consigns the

There are two types of gerrymandering, the first is called packing. Packing is when you put the same type of people in one electoral district. Why is packing helpful?, well packing can decrease the chance of one party influencing the other party. Cracking is the other way of gerrymandering, this is when you spread one party out to decrease their impact on the district, causing the other party to win the district. Gerrymandering in general sounds a little wrong in a political view. It sounds very wrong after hearing about the great gerrymander in 2012. In the house of representatives we have 435 seats. To be able to determine how many seats go to a state every ten years the department of commerce holds something called a census. The

The term “gerrymandering” can be traced back to Elbridge Gerry, who was one of the first governors to sign a redistricting plan that would give his party an advantage. Gerrymandering is the act of redrawing congressional districts in a way that favors one group or another. This is done by the state legislature, and is designed to favor their own party. Gerrymandering is harmful to elections. Gerrymandering is harmful towards elections because it can dilute a candidate's voter base, free up the majority of other districts for an opposing party, and alter the weight of a voter's vote.

In American politics today, many practices exist that greatly harm the American public. One of these dangerous practices, known as gerrymandering, occurs in nearly every state. While some claim that the practice helps America, in reality gerrymandering harms American democracy and safety. Gerrymandering greatly affects society, and must become illegal to insure fair representation, the democratic processes in America continues, and America continues to thrive.

The main purpose of gerrymandering is to increase the number of legislative seats that can be won by the political party which is in charge of redrawing the district boundaries during that period of time, and to create “safe” seats for the party’s incumbent legislators which are seats in which the incumbent will always win re-election. Gerrymandering is the redrawing of election district boundaries to give an electoral advantage to a particular candidate or party. It has been recognized as a part of the American political landscape since 1812. The term derives from a redrawing of US Representative districts in Massachusetts before the 1812 elections, when

In 1842, Congress passed the Apportionment Act, which required congressional districts to be compact and equal in population (“Apportionment Legislation 1840 - 1880”). Although the law made an initial effort to curb gerrymandering, it failed to adequately define “compact.” Over a century later, in the 1962 court case Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court ruled that congressional districts must have reasonable boundaries. The court further deemed redistricting issues to be justiciable, enabling federal courts to decide gerrymandering cases (“Baker v. Carr”). It wasn’t until the 1985 Davis v. Bandemer case that the Supreme Court ruled that manipulating district boundaries for political gains is unconstitutional (“Davis v. Bandemer”). However, the Supreme Court left unanswered one pivotal question: What are the standards for identifying and litigating a gerrymander? (Hess, 209). Although it is illegal, without a clear national standard for addressing gerrymandering, state legislatures get away with it in federal courts by exploiting the legal ambiguity surrounding the practice. Therefore, taking the power to redistrict away from state legislatures in the first place is the most viable

The Founding Fathers of the United States constitution also created constitutional principles that the United States gov’t and people should abide by. However, if people allow gerrymandering to happen, we as citizens, would be doing a deed that is extremely unconstitutional. According to the constitutional principles stated in the United States Constitution, the United States will always be a country that uses popular sovereignty. According to Dictionary.com, popular sovereignty is. “the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.” (Dictionary.com, Popular Sovereignty) This means that to decide on problems or large decisions, the majority vote of the people will always rule. However, with gerrymandering, the politicians will be violating the principle of popular sovereignty because they manipulate the districts so even if there are more votes for one party, the other party can win the majority of the districts, therefore winning the state. Another constitutional principle that gerrymandering violates from the US Constitution is the statement that everyone should have their own individual rights. The rights stated are that everyone has their rights to liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. One of the rights is liberty, meaning that there should be no government interference in people’s lives, their behavior, and their political views. However, when the government does gerrymander, they are interfering with our political views by not allowing our say to be counted

Say there is a state with a population of fifty, now three fifths of that state are democratic and the other two fifths are republican, now we need to separate this state into five congressional districts. The best way to do this would be so there are two republican representatives and three democratic. However with gerrymandering democrats can draw districts that are unfair and they get all five representatives, but if republicans draw the districts they can draw them were there are three republican representatives and only two democratic representatives. This process is seen through many states. In North Carolina forty-four percent of voters voted democratic, however thanks to a creative congressional map, seventy- seven percent of representatives were republican. The twelfth district in North Carolina is considered the most gerrymandered district in the country, and is home to two more of the top ten gerrymandered districts. Republicans rule six of the most Gerrymandered states, including North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Alabama. The other four

According to the text “Keeping the Republic”, gerrymandering is redistricting to benefit a particular group. Many believe gerrymandering is no longer used anymore, however it is just as prominent today as it ever was. In fact, redistricting and gerrymandering affect American politics in numerous ways. When politicians choose to gerrymander it disrupts the whole

The Week Staff, authors of the article, “How to rig elections, the legal way”, use the article to explain what gerrymandering is and how it is used in the political system. According to the article, gerrymandering is a way for political parties to manipulate district lines to their advantage. This way, a specific party can gain more electoral votes in their favor. Many politicians use this technique, and it is perfectly legal for them to do it. However, just because gerrymandering is legal it does not mean it is fair. Many people are unaware of what gerrymandering is, and they do not understand what it does to the voting system. Gerrymandering is not fair to the voters, and redrawing districts should be given to people that are not partial

I certainly agree that gerrymandering deprives voters and is unjust in itself. Gerrymandering produces an extremely biased government, one that is solely based upon the

There is currently a case in the supreme court regarding gerrymandering. This case came from Wisconsin. Not only that, but gerrymandering is destroying the fair voting system. It gives one political party the advantage over the other and that is not right.

Gerrymandering is a tactic in which the drawing of district boundaries is manipulated so it favors one party over another. The shapes of these certain boundaries are altered substantially to benefit a certain party. According to American Government and Politics Today, the strategy of gerrymandering arose in 1812, when under the power of the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, gerrymandering was used to aid his specific party (Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt). To state the obvious, gerrymandering does hinder our American democracy. What is the point of a democracy and elections if the legislative body is redrawing district boundaries, while purposefully trying to influence voting? Gerrymandering skews voting. A post on 21st Century Jeffersonianism

The Voting Rights Act 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 et seq., decision is important regarding the laws governing voting rights and their relationship to minority voters. Its implication and effects however does not end within the legal realms and dimensions but continues through to society, culture, and human rights. The Voting Rights Act initially established in 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration protected “racial minorities” from biased voting practices. It was a huge stride in the civil rights movement and a victory over harmful, archaic, and biased voting practices and traditions.

Gerrymandering is the use of redrawing certain districts and manipulating the boundaries allowing a political advantage to one’s party and the other a disadvantage. This process occurs every ten years as new political candidates run to be a government official ( Fan 737 ). It started in 1812 where Governor Gerry redrew the district lines of Massachusetts, giving his party an advantage. That is how Gerrymandering got its name. Usually, the person who redraws the district goes after the urban areas because of how populated they are compared to rural areas. This is not good for the United States because of many reasons; Gerrymandering create districts that are confusing to voters because of the weird shapes and sizes, claims of the party can be contradictory, and the fact that gerrymandering is around, makes the people believe that the candidates are corrupted and running the right the vote. ( RULEY 785 ).