terry.liittschwager@gmail.com

page updated 2012-11-14

Gerrymandering

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan or incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process.    from Wikipedia


There are plenty of good proposals out there for a better way of establishing the districts within each state from which we elect the members of the US House of Representatives. Those using a mathematical model and protocol for drawing the boundaries are best. Pick one, any one, they're all better than what we do now. Then make that the standard for all states.

An interesting statistic for the 2012 election is that there were a greater number of votes for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives than for Republican candidates. Yet the Republicans remained in control. That this happened is a result of gerrymandering, and there's something very wrong about that. The House of Representatives is supposed to be the chamber that's closest to the people.