Gerrymandering is defined as “the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.” Moreover, the number of Congressional districts in a state is based on the state’s population. Every ten years, the districts can be redrawn as the state’s population number changes. Gerrymandering groups the opposing party’s voters into a few large districts and the controlling party’s voters into various small districts. It is important to note that each district only gets one representative regardless of the district’s population size. Therefore, gerrymandering creates a very unequal Congressional representation because it can give seats to a party even when the majority of the people in that district do not want them there. This paper will aim to discuss the flaws as well as benefits of gerrymandering, the situation today with recent news of gerrymandering in America, and potential compromises and solutions regarding gerrymandering for the future.
II. Analysis
A. Flaws and
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The number of House representatives of each state is based on population, so it is crucial to understand just how many people are in each state. The most populous state, California, has the largest number of representatives. In contrast, the least populous states have only one. In less populated states, drawing the district, or the geographic area that is represented by a congressman, is very simple because there is only one district. Districts are required to be as equal as possible in population. In most states populations are not evenly distributed across the entire region. Thus, drawing various districts based on population is very necessary and provides a solution to this