Gerrymandering in the United States
Gerrymandering is a term that is used to describe how politicians use the power of redistricting within their states to increase the chances of votes turning in their favor for any given election within that state. The term “Gerrymandering” itself was first coined in 1812 after a district in Massachusetts was drawn very misshapenly, some saying it resembled a salamander, having been approved by the then-governor Elbridge Gerry. Though even he disagreed with the usage of such tactics, the district was made so that the votes from that district would turn in the favor of the Democratic-Republican party. The plan turned out to work quite well and put into office three senators from that party, whereas there had previously been five Federalist senators elected in that same county just years before. This allowed the Democratic-Republican party to gain a majority of senators in Massachusetts even though the Federalists had won more overall votes throughout the state.
Gerrymandering works by separating pockets of opposition voters and placing them in districts with voters that will overwhelm and ultimately nullify their votes. Every year that a census is held, the party that is in power at the time has the say in how districts are redrawn. This is used regardless of party affiliation and gives that particular side of the aisle an advantage for the next ten years. This means that for ten years the opposition party and its voters do not have an equal amount of influence and can lose elections even if they have more votes within the state or county. It is a policy that is fully legal, though there are many cases, even some that are pending now, that question whether the use, and especially overuse based on ethnicity and income of voters, is Constitutional.
The map above illustrates the relative amount of Gerrymandering that occurs within each U.S. State as of 2018. Using rating systems like the Polsby-Popper ratio can help to identify the compactness of districts indicating whether it has been drawn in odd or misshapen ways. The less compact a district is, the more likely it is to have been Gerrymandered. While the system is not perfect, as it is prone to rating states with fewer districts as more Gerrymandered, it gives a fairly accurate representation of the work that happens behind the scenes to suppress the voice of voters. For example, Nevada, only having four districts, still has the lowest reported amount of Gerrymandering of any of the states showing that the rating is not very biased in this regard. With this data, however, we are also able to analyze how this might affect the competitiveness of elections within states that are very Gerrymandered in comparison to those who are less so.
The above chart lists the percentages of political races, in 2018, that were competitive within each state and are color-coded to match the map in terms of the amount of Gerrymandering. When an election is more competitive, it is evidence that a greater amount of people within the state are having their votes heard more equally creating a closer race. This is juxtaposed to landslide victories for the party that has apportioned its voters strategically to cancel out the opposition. While there are outliers, seventy-percent of the top third most competitive elections are states that are considered to be less Gerrymandered, with the highest-rated states often becoming less and less competitive.
Overall, this data points to the amount of influence that Gerrymandering has over the results of elections within a state. It wields enough power to even overthrow the majority of voters when used nefariously and aids in supporting parties that are not always on the side that the people of that state want at that point in time. While redistricting is not inherently a bad or disruptive part of democracy, when it is used for the purpose of suppressing opposition voters and skewing the results of elections, it undermines the purpose and ideals of voting that many hold to be part of what makes the United States as great as it can be.
