What is gerrymandering and why does a democracy allow it to be used to protect white power? [View all]

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The Editorial Board's legal historian @QueenMab87 asks: What is gerrymandering and why does a democracy allow it to be used to protect white power?

What is gerrymandering and why does a democracy allow it to be used to protect white power?
A legal history of congressional district map-making.
editorialboard.com
1:43 PM · Oct 21, 2021

https://www.editorialboard.com/what-is-gerrymandering-and-why-does-a-democracy-allow-it-to-be-used-to-protect-white-power/

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Maps are being redrawn all over the country in response to last year’s census. Unfortunately, the process currently leaves a lot of room for partisan gerrymandering. It is the first time since the passage of the Voting Rights Act that district maps will be drawn without the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act for many states.

A 2019 Supreme Court case also makes it impossible to bring gerrymander cases to federal courts on the basis of partisanship. Luckily some states have passed redistricting reforms since the last census. Others have divided legislatures where partisan abuse is less likely. But there are states that will attempt to draw maps in blatantly partisan ways, particularly to protect Republican political power.

The practice of manipulating voting districts for political power — ie, gerrymandering — wasn’t invented in the US but it’s hard to say we didn’t perfect it. In 18th-century Britain, districts called “rotten boroughs” were drawn with few voters to ensure certain representatives were elected to Parliament. Gerrymandered districts have existed since the inception of US congressional districts, but initially the districts were still drawn in relatively normal ways.

The term “gerrymander” was coined after an 1812 Massachusetts state senate district map was drawn and signed into law by then Governor Elbridge Gerry. The map drew a long thin district that sliced up Essex County, which usually voted for the Federalist Party, in order to help the Democratic-Republicans. As a result, a county that had elected five Federalist representatives elected three Democratic-Republicans and only two Federalists. Federalists won over 1,500 more votes statewide but elected only 11 representatives while Democratic-Republicans elected 29. Ultimately, the extreme district map caused a backlash and Federalists soon regained power and redrew the district map.

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