Republican Control of US Legislatures
How This Will Allow Them to Control Redistricting
Redistricting is a legally required process that happens every 10 years. The US States which have more than one electoral district need to redraw electoral district boundaries every decade to account for population changes. In 25 states, this process falls to state legislatures which are often partisan (controlled by either Democrats or Republicans).
Legislature: deliberative assembly which can make laws.
How Does it Work?
In 13 other states, nonpartisan or bipartisan commissions are used in the process. In five other states, a commission redraws the boundaries but the state legislature needs to approve them. In the majority of states, state governors need to approve the plan regardless of whether a commission or a legislature drew the map lines.
Commission: a group of people given the authority to do something by the government.
Control over the redistricting is important because it gives the party in power the ability to draw boundaries favourable to their party, which makes it difficult for the opposing party to win new seats. The process is known as gerrymandering. It limits the number of seats the opposing party gets by creating a few districts that are almost completely filled with the opposing party’s voter base.
Republicans will be able to use this to their advantage for the next 10 years.
Why did Republicans Maintain Control of Legislatures?
Republicans performed better than expected in Congressional races and state legislatures. For instance, they flipped the New Hampshire House and Senate from the Democrats. This will allow them to redistrict with less opposition from Democrats in many states.
written by Diya Jalan
read more of our work at xsnews.net & instagram.com/xsnews
