As politics in the U.S. has polarized along geographic and racial lines, drawing political maps has become a partisan arms race. Even the smallest decisions about where to draw district boundaries can alter the power dynamic in Congress — without a single voter switching parties or moving. It’s easy for opponents of gerrymandering — the […]
In most states, district maps — which define where the constituency of one representative ends and that of another begins — are drawn by the state’s lawmakers. Having politicians define their own districts has not gone entirely smoothly — and two cases involving political gerrymandering, or the drawing of districts (especially oddly shaped districts) to […]
The often preposterous contours of gerrymandered districts make them easy both to spot and to ridicule. But are weirdly shaped districts really a sign that something has gone wrong? This video marks the last in our series of short explainers on gerrymandering, and in it we delve deeper into why some districts take the shape […]
Because most political districts are drawn by state legislators, politicians tend to receive the bulk of the blame for gerrymandering. In this video — the second in our trio of short explainers on gerrymandering — we take a close look at the role that the American electorate plays in the ways our districts are shaped. […]
Editor’s note: Earlier iterations of this post and podcast were first published on Sept. 28, before Wisconsin’s gerrymandering case was heard by the Supreme Court. Now that it has been heard by the court, we’ve updated both the post and podcast. Is partisan gerrymandering constitutional? And if not, how is it to be measured? Those […]