Partisan Gerrymandering Under Scrutiny

While the government shutdown and immigration reform overtakes the news cycle, much more significant battles are taking place in in state courts (and possibly the Supreme court in the upcoming weeks). Unbeknownst to the American public, some severely gerrymandered states have had their maps challenged or thrown out by state supreme courts due to their extreme partisanship.

Gerrymandering is classified as drawing the district boundaries in a way that is advantageous to a particular party or group. In America, most districts are drawn by state legislators, which means the party in control can utilize their influence to ensure they stay in power by creating convoluted maps that secure the maximum number of seats, regardless of party demographics in that state. A notorious example of this is North Carolina: a state in which 47% of the votes went toward Democratic candidates for the House, yet 77% of the seats went to Republicans. This divide is a direct result of redistricting done by republicans following state elections in 2010 and 2012 (as seen in the map below).

However, this process is facing backlash from unrepresented constituents and is being scrutinized by state courts- the most recent example being Pennsylvania this January. There, the State Supreme Court struck down the district maps written by the Republican representatives who won seats following the wave election in 2010 and then the successful 2014 election. But this case (and the others like it in North Carolina and Wisconsin) is different from most in that the decision to challenge these maps came from the blatant partisan redistricting which has been considered legal up to this point (most illegal gerrymandering is due to racial factors prohibited under the Voting Rights Act). Partisan redistricting, on the other hand, is a very common and accepted practice that has been performed by both Democrats and Republicans.

Usually, whoever has the current advantage is the one gerrymandering their states. Yet, state legislatures have been pressured by courts to create more bipartisan maps, even though there is little precedent to prevent partisan gerrymandering from going into effect. Thus, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin (among others) are important because the decisions reached regarding their districts (by either state, circuit, or the Supreme Court) will determine if there is a line when it comes to drawing partisan maps and where that line is. A decision like that could have tremendous consequences on the American people and their electorates and representatives.

Works Consulted

Crash Course. (2015, October 31). Gerrymandering: Crash Course Government and Politics #37 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnhFm5QVVTo

Enten, H. (2018, January 26). Ending Gerrymandering Won’t Fix What Ails America. Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ending-gerrymandering-wont-fix-what-ails-america/

Graham, D. (2018, January 23). Has the Tide Turned Against Partisan Gerrymandering? Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/pennsylvania-partisan-gerrymandering-north-carolina-wisconsin-scotus/551177/

Last Week Tonight. (2017, April 9). Gerrymandering: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-4dIImaodQ

Prokop, A. (2018, January 22). Pennsylvania’s Gerrymandered House Map Was Just Struck Down- With Huge Implications for 2018. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2018/1/22/16920636/pennsylvania-gerrymander-ruling-house

Roeder, O. (2018, October 17). The Supreme Court Is Allergic To Math. Retrieved from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-supreme-court-is-allergic-to-math/

Toobin, J. (2018, January 23). The Courts Take Aim At Partisan Gerrymandering. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-courts-take-aim-at-partisan-gerrymandering

Wasserman, D. (2018, January 25). Hating Gerrymandering Is Easy. Fixing It Is Harder. Retrieved from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hating-gerrymandering-is-easy-fixing-it-is-harder/?ex_cid=538fb

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