Gerrymandering is all about keeping the status quo. It boils down to drawing the district lines in such a way that it keeps the EXISTING representative in power (or at least, that representative's party).
Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating electoral constituency boundaries or social housing allotment process so as to favour one party or class and it is illegal.
The people in powers benefit from it by obtaining votes that get them into more powerful positions.
Politicians gerrymander districts to gain more votes. Gerrymandering is the process of changing the boundaries of the district to include areas that will vote for you.
Gerrymandering manipulates the boundaries of electoral districts in favor of a particular party or group. It is a method of insuring control.
It isn't legal. Yes, it is being done, but not legal. The law has to be enforced to stop it.
to increase their voting strength
A gerrymander is an oddly shaped district design to increase the voting strength of a particular party. The name comes from salamander-shaped districts drawn up the influence of one Elbridge Gerry , a governor of Massachusetts. As a verb it means to draw up gerrymander districts. Gerrymandering tends to occur after each census which changes the number of Congressional districts in a state. States also need to change their own legislative distrcts from to time to time due to shifts in population and the new districts may be gerrymandered to help the party in power. The idea is to study past voting records and create as many districts as possible with a slight but solid majority for the controling party. It may be necessary to have some "lost" districts to which as many opposing voters as possible are placed.
The term is derived from Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts governor who redrew the districts in his State to favor his party. One district looked like a snake stretched across the State, so a political cartoonist added claws, wings, and teeth to it and called it a "gerrymander."
The goal of "Gerrymandering" is to re-draw a district's boundaries in order to maximize your voters while keeping out your opponents. While typically successful, the remaining districts are then filled with voters from the other party, resulting in districts that vote overwhelmingly for their own party - which then tends to throw the local-city-state-federal governments into gridlock as it becomes virtually impossible for an independent or bi-partisan candidate to be elected.
The word comes from a former US politician (5th US Vice President) named "Elbridge Gerry" who drew oddly shaped districts that supposedly looked like salamanders in order to make sure that particular districts had a Democratic-Republican majority. The words "Gerry" and "salamander" were merged to create "gerrymander".
Politicians gerrymander electoral districts to gain a political advantage. By manipulating the boundaries of the districts, politicians can concentrate the voting power of a particular group or dilute the power of opposing groups. This allows them to solidify their political control and increase the likelihood of winning elections.
state legislatures
to increase their voting strength
to increase their voting strength
State Legislators
gerrymander
Gerrymander
- They would pack a district with supporters so they would know they won that district.
A gerrymander is an oddly shaped district design to increase the voting strength of a particular party. The name comes from salamander-shaped districts drawn up the influence of one Elbridge Gerry , a governor of Massachusetts. As a verb it means to draw up gerrymander districts. Gerrymandering tends to occur after each census which changes the number of Congressional districts in a state. States also need to change their own legislative distrcts from to time to time due to shifts in population and the new districts may be gerrymandered to help the party in power. The idea is to study past voting records and create as many districts as possible with a slight but solid majority for the controling party. It may be necessary to have some "lost" districts to which as many opposing voters as possible are placed.
After taking a census, the government must apportion seats in the legislature based on population. However, some politicians may attempt to gerrymander districts in order to manipulate the reapportionment process for their own advantage. Gerrymandering involves redrawing district boundaries to give one political party an unfair advantage in elections, which undermines the principle of fair representation based on accurate census data.
Politicians use gerrymandering to draw district lines because it means they can create a district which can become a safer seat for that politicians cause -- whether it be party, race, etc. They do it so they (or their political allies) will have a higher likelihood of winning a seat
No. Gerrymandering is simply drawing political districts to conform with the requirements of population distribution resulting from the census. The name gerrymander is a result of the efforts of Mr. Gerry's attempt to draw the district so as to encompass only those areas he thought would support him. The newly drawn district looked like a salamander, hence gerrymander.