{"id":5790,"date":"2022-09-07T18:59:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T18:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2022-09-07T19:06:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:06:30","slug":"what-are-the-three-types-of-gerrymandering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/what-are-the-three-types-of-gerrymandering\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the three types of Gerrymandering?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gerrymandering Definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Demographics are essential for the democratic process. The U.S. holds a national census every ten years. This process works to identify the groups in society to better represent them in policy and leadership. Once the census is complete, this information is used by states to redraw their legis\u00adlat\u00adive and congres\u00adsional district lines. This process helps maintain representation in democracy because communit\u00adies change. Redis\u00adtrict\u00ading requires that maps be redrawn to ensure that districts are equally popu\u00adlated. The lawmakers undertake this process in compliance with the legislation set out in the Voting Rights Act<\/a>. A state’s popu\u00adla\u00adtion needs to be redis\u00adtricted to become an exact portrait of the people. Gerrymandering involves using this process against the electorate to further the interests of the incumbent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerrymandering is a tactic that gives those seeking reelection the opportunity to choose those who will vote for them. Legislators can some\u00adtimes manu\u00adfac\u00adture elec\u00adtion outcomes using this process. These outcomes often lack legitimacy and are not representative of the pref\u00ader\u00adences of voters. This malpractice is common when line drawing is performed by lawmakers who operate as the main polit\u00adical party. These officials often face no opposition from diverse views in the lawmaking chambers. This lack of scrutiny allows them to implement partisan concerns over all else. The result of Gerrymandering is an electoral outcome that is scripted. It results in a discouraged and apathetic electorate that neither wants to run for office or vote on election day. These disadvantages are incredibly harmful to democracy as there is a lack of competition. A lack of competition means the best candidate is seldom chosen to lead the office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Objective of Gerrymandering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The types of Gerrymandering exist to serve the primary goals of politicians. A lawmaker who practices partisan Gerrymandering often seeks to influence the districting statute and the legislative decisions that may affect their eligibility. Those in power will seek to maximize the effect of their supporters’ votes. When seeking reelection, this tactic can also minimize the impact of opponents’ votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of Gerrymandering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cracking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This form of Gerrymandering occurs the lawmaker seeks to distribute voters of a particular demographic across numerous districts. They are often placed in locations where a sufficiently large voting bloc of the candidate’s supporters will drown them out. This action has the effect of denying these groups the chance to affect the outcome significantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a political party seeks reelection, they may redraw district lines that crack districts where they have less support. These cracked districts then struggle to form significant civic opposition to the lawmakers retaining or expanding their legislative power. The method is highly undemocratic and allows a political party to hold onto power by preventing opposing candidate supporters from expressing their political contributions in a meaningful manner. By ensuring that opposing voters are not the majority in any district, voters are split among several districts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This decision is often based on the presumption that the two groups would vote differently. This gives a slight chance to the opposing voters to make an impact leading to high levels of voter apathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Packing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gerrymandering through packing is when the power of opposition voters is concentrated in one electoral district. Lawmakers do this to ensure voters who vote for a particular political party across multiple electoral districts can only do so in a few. This action effectively reduces their influence in other sections. The result is a highly misrepresented society. This process is unethical and gives representation to a community. This group’s shared interests are then placed above the majority-minority districts. This action dilutes the influence that these groups have over several sections. Given the ineffectiveness of using legislative avenues to pursue justice, it is unlikely that minority groups will file lawsuits charging racial discrimination. This factor gives the dominant political party a monopoly in the districting process. A statewide majority is often necessary to successfully use packing. Gerrymandering with this method provides a directly partisan advantage as the minority will only win a small percentage of the available seats. Packing requires the ruling party to give up a few seats to the minority groups to make the process appear fair. These few seats, however, offer no real power to influence\/oppose decisions made by the majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hijacking <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This method of reducing direct competition for the main political party is a subtle form of Gerrymandering. To ensure that one of the leading political candidates is eliminated, the lawmakers may redraw two districts and force them to compete against each other. The election winner between the two competing candidates can still beat the leading party candidate. The challenge is that lawmakers often use hijacking in combination with another method of Gerrymandering to unbalance the electoral playing field.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kidnapping<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The less known form of Gerrymandering is known as kidnapping. This method involves a lawmaker changing the address of their direct competitor. The address is often moved out of their district, making it difficult for them to contest. To be elected, the community will usually side with an incumbent who resides in the neighbourhood. This action forces candidates into a difficult decision. They must either face reelection in a new district with new voters or compete in another section. Lawmakers use this form of Gerrymandering against politicians who represent multiple urban areas. These candidates are often moved to more rural districts where they will struggle to understand the electorate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gerrymandering Definition Demographics are essential for the democratic process. The U.S. holds a national census every ten years. This process works to identify the groups in society to better represent them in policy and leadership. Once the census is complete, this information is used by states to redraw their legis\u00adlat\u00adive and congres\u00adsional district lines. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[290,173],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1000x667.jpg",1000,667,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-100x100.jpg",100,100,true],"jnews-360x180":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-360x180.jpg",360,180,true],"jnews-750x375":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-750x375.jpg",750,375,true],"jnews-1140x570":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1140x570.jpg",1140,570,true],"jnews-120x86":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-120x86.jpg",120,86,true],"jnews-350x250":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-350x250.jpg",350,250,true],"jnews-750x536":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-750x536.jpg",750,536,true],"jnews-1140x815":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1140x815.jpg",1140,815,true],"jnews-360x504":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-360x504.jpg",360,504,true],"jnews-75x75":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-75x75.jpg",75,75,true],"jnews-350x350":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-350x350.jpg",350,350,true],"jnews-featured-750":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-750x500.jpg",750,500,true],"jnews-featured-1140":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5926262-1140x760.jpg",1140,760,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"James B Greer","author_link":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/author\/j-b-gpoliticsphere-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Gerrymandering Definition Demographics are essential for the democratic process. The U.S. holds a national census every ten years. This process works to identify the groups in society to better represent them in policy and leadership. Once the census is complete, this information is used by states to redraw their legis\u00adlat\u00adive and congres\u00adsional district lines. This…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5793,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions\/5793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}