Gerrymandering. It’s become the embodiment of so many of the evils in the U.S. political system. Frustrated by the lack of competitive elections? Blame gerrymandering. Appalled by the growing number of ideological extremists in Congress? Blame gerrymandering. What about congressional gridlock? Gerrymandering did it. But gerrymandering — the drawing of political boundaries for the benefit […]
FiveThirtyEightSERIESThe Gerrymandering Project PUBLISHED JAN. 24, 2018 AT 4:59 PM The Atlas Of Redistricting By Aaron Bycoffe, Ella Koeze and David Wasserman There’s a lot of complaining about gerrymandering, but what should districts look like? We went back to the drawing board and drew six different congressional maps for the entire country. Each map has […]
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 […]