District Gerrymandering Gerrymandering—drawing electoral districts in such a way that is advantageous to the party that is in control of redistricting— has detrimental implications for democracy. As well, gerrymandering disproportionately affects underprivileged and minatory voters. Political elites and strict party loyalists benefit from this system. Gerrymandering comes in different forms, both racial and partisan. Removing gerrymandering is necessary so America can become a truly representative democracy. The practice entrenched in our government system may be unlikely to get abolished. But efforts to fix the problem could be possible. Partisanship and Polarization: Partisanship and polarization are prominent issues within the American …show more content…
The “packing” method involves concentrating as many voters of a single type into one district in order to “waste” as many votes as possible (Halfmann, 2017). The process of “hijacking” is the incumbent party removing a candidate of the opposing party from their usual district, placing them in a new district with a different electorate that is less likely to vote for the candidate (Schwartz). “Kidnapping” is redrawing two districts so that two members of the same party must run against one another and thus eliminating one of them during the primaries. This leaves the other district open to being won by the opposing party …show more content…
political system for a very long time. The two-party system ensures that politicians are completely partisan and that they do not fall out of line with party motives. Politicians are incentivized to maintain their power, and the best way to do that is to stay in office. The most efficient method for a politician to stay in office is to gerrymander their state districts. This happens on both sides of the isle—both Democrats and Republicans rely on partisan gerrymandering to maintain their power. All humans are selfish and only interested in gaining as much power as they possibly can; philosopher Thomas Hobbes is most famously known for theorizing human nature. (Finn). This idea directly supports why American politicians are dependent on gerrymandering. Politicians are the primary beneficiaries of partisan gerrymandering. As well, very partisan and politically active citizens also benefit from gerrymandering. These citizens benefit when the voters of the opposing party are gerrymandered to reduce their chances of winning an