Gerrymandering Reflection

The resulting districts are normally referred to as gerrymanders and they are composed of pro-incumbents and partisans. Partisan gerrymandering involves the redrawing of political lines in order to favor a given political party. Incumbent gerrymandering involves the redrawing of boundaries in a bipartisan manner that is aimed at benefiting the incumbents on both sides of the aisle (Snider 2012).

Everyone is likely to experience some form of discrimination or prejudice; as is anyone capable of acting prejudiced towards others. On April 5th, 1968, a teacher in Riceville, Iowa named Jane Elliot conducted an experiment with her third grade class that dealt with the concept of discrimination; and was documented in Peters’ 1985 ‘A Class Divided’. The exercise originally took place the day after Martin Luther King was assassinated. The documentary is an eye opener to the world of racism and discrimination. Bucher (2010) describes racism as “discrimination based on the belief that one race is superior to another” (97). According to Bucher (2010) “discrimination is defined as the

Politics in the United States is a complex structure that is comprised of many systems. While most of these systems appear to work well, there are a few that are broken. A perfect example of a broken system is the district boundaries and the likelihood of gerrymandering. Multiple states across the country are subjected to gerrymandering, which is the act of dividing a county into election districts that provide one political party with an unfair advantage over the other. Gerrymandering is used to help or prevent a particular demographic from gaining adequate representation. In Florida, for example, there is controversy over Congressional District 5, which extends from Jacksonville down to Orlando in a way that creates a “minority-majority” district.

More convincing than the fact that the majority of incumbents retained their seats by overwhelming margins is the shocking statistic that a quarter of the incumbents were uncontested.13 These politicians were so successful at arranging favorable districts that it was futile to even attempt a challenge. The author continued to examine particularly egregious cases of gerrymandering in New York, including that of Senator Guy Vellela, who once selected voters for his district by individual city blocks.14 Senator Guy Vellela, as well as the other state senators of New York, are prime examples of politicians exploiting gerrymandering to manipulate the outcome of elections and improve their outcomes.

Texas Politics. The University of Texas at Austin, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, 2009. Retrieved from http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/6_printable.html

Yet, there are still cases that pop up every now and then. The Supreme Court has set up rules like compact and contiguous districts, physically adjoining districts, and the one-person, one-vote rule. That last one is most important because it affects everyone. Every person’s vote must equal the same. Even if district are redrawn to give more power to minorities, it is still giving an unfair because it lend strength towards the democratic party, to which minorities are more likely to vote. Gerrymandering is a threat to the weight that the average person’s vote carries and that is a threat to the fairness and unbiasedness of elections.

In 2003 the Democrats still figured out how to hold a 17-15 point of interest inside the state's U.S. House delegation, a bonus to the new electoral map was intended to undo. The Republicans' manage to hang on to the administration and the Democrats' determination to recapture lost ground uncover however far the state has come since the times of the democratic form of government. In 2004, both parties admonished the committee to get out the vote through time-regarded grassroots organizing on the local and precinct levels, while at the same time using new innovations and methods to expand partisan mobilization. As a quick come about, in numerous parts of the state, turnout sailed above historic averages.

Jack Flynt’s reelection and primary constituencies between his transitional and new districts are both similar and different in certain aspects. The transitional district was around from 1966 to 1970. Flynt’s transitional district represented about sixteen counties which added up to a population of about 323,000. The traditional district was not too different from his original district. “The district’s dominant economic interest was textiles, farming, and some light metal and food-processing industries” (Fenno, 2000, 16). The district was a one-party Democratic district which meant that the only “serious primary contest Flynt ever had in this district was his initial 1954 victory” (Fenno, 2000, 17).

The article, “In Praise of Gerrymandering” written by Kevin D. Williamson, talks about gerrymandering, which is when politicians are cheating to be elected and shares his opinion that Republicans have become “too good” at this. He then illustrates that Democrats need to demonstrate better ways of obtaining votes.

The process in gerrymandering occurs when it’s time for the congressional state districts to be redrawn, which happens every 10 years(Altman). The goal of gerrymandering is to give your political party an advantage by giving them the most members in the House of Representatives or state legislature. Each state district sends one representative to the House, so when it’s time to redraw the districts, politicians will put as many voters of the opposing party in one district as possible, this way, the other party’s votes will be wasted in a district that they will already win, and will have no effect on the other districts that the party redrawing the districts plan to win. This gives the party redrawing the districts more members in the House and give them a yuuuuge partisan advantage when it comes to passing legislation favorable to their party's agenda, and to stopping legislation that opposes that party’s values.

An effective way of combating gerrymandering is to follow the example of California and enact something similar to prop.11 which will give the responsibility of redrawing the district line to independent non-partisan groups. This will remove partisan machinations from the drawing process and remove the unfair advantage that incumbents have over challengers to their seats.

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

The process of Gerrymandering is a very controversial and corrupt, which is outlined throughout the piece “How to Rig an Election” and “Scrambling the Lines: Redistricting Gone Awry”. Throughout the second article, the author discusses how the GOP is willing to break every rule stated to increase its electoral power and have a better shot at winning. Furthermore, the GOP used Gerrymandering to alter seven democratic districts in Texas to allow them to lean Republican. The U.S. House Majority Leader DeLay “channeled millions of dollars into the state race through Political Action Committees” and therefore giving the Republican party the State House of Representatives and the State Senate in Texas. On the same topic, the Democrats wished to adjourn

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

In the central New York farmland that includes Chenango, Cortland, Madison and Oneida counties and parts of Broome, Herkimer, Tioga and Oswego counties, there is an ugly three-way race for the 22nd congressional district’s seat, currently held by progressive republican Richard Hanna, who is retiring at the end of his current term. A standard sized district with roughly 720,000 citizens, this rural patch of eight counties and three universities has been faced with a drastically falling population and an ever-growing absence of jobs. With an 8.4% unemployment rate and a median household income of only 45,000 dollars, the district that includes hard-hit rust belt cities like Utica and Binghampton has seen population levels decreasing significantly since the manufacturing industry in New York fell by the wayside decades ago. There are 130,000 registered voters in the district, with 35% being democrats, 38% republicans, and another 19% independent. A slightly leaning republican voter base now roots most their careers in farming, and feel the most important issue in their district is jobs, with second amendment rights and climate change as other hot button issues. The 22nd district is firmly Trump territory, with the Donald enjoying a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton. The current congressman, Richard Hanna, is not drinking the Trump kool-aid at all. As one of the most progressive republicans in the House of