The Detrimental Practice of Gerrymandering

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In American politics today, many practices exist that greatly harm the American public. One of these dangerous practices, known as gerrymandering, occurs in nearly every state. While some claim that the practice helps America, in reality gerrymandering harms American democracy and safety. Gerrymandering greatly affects society, and must become illegal to insure fair representation, the democratic processes in America continues, and America continues to thrive.
When gerrymandering occurs, a political party draws the boundaries of an electoral district in a way that helps their party win elections over the other parties. For example, if a Republican controls a state, and it appears like the party will lose a seat in the future, the Republicans will draw the district in a way to exclude as many Democratic voters as possible. Perhaps they will do this by removing a democratic stronghold from one district and adding it to another district that will either easily go Republican or will have a Democratic representative no matter what happens. Before 1964, the majority party could draw districts in any way they wanted to, and chaos ensued. Consequently, in 1964, the U.S Supreme Court legislated that the districts “had to contain equal population, and be as compact as possible” (“Gerrymandering”). Every ten years the U.S. issues a census to determine the population of each state. After this, each state receives their share of the 435 seats, and then the state gets to break the population into the corresponding number of districts. This whole process, known as reapportionment, takes weeks to determine, and in many cases, courts must determine the shape and area of each district. Even though the districts must contain equal population, gerry...

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... take quick and decisive measures to end the practice while it still can.

Works Cited

Foglia Phil. “19th Century Mass. Gov. Elbridge Gerry knew all about gerrymandering of political districts - he invented it!” Daily News. New York Daily News. 14 March 2014. Web. 6 May 2014.
“Gerrymandering.” Britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. 1 August 2013. Web. 3 May 2014.
Levinson, Sanford. “To End Government Shutdowns, End Partisan Gerrymandering.” American.Aljazera.com. Aljazeera America, 13 October 2013. Web. 10 May 2014.
Wilson, James Q and John J. Dilulio Jr. and Meena Bose. American Government: Institutions and Policies. 13th ed. Boston MA: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning, 2013. Print.
Winburn, Jonathan. The Realities of Redistricting: Following the Rules and Limiting Gerrymandering in State Legislative Redistricting. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. Print.

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