Gerrymandering Essay

Given the legal nature of the gerrymandering issue, there is an extensive legal background on the issue since the ninetieth century. This literature review gives the more relevant legal background regarding Pennsylvania’s current situation, as well as background information on the novel ways that policy-makers and researchers measure political gerrymandering. Keeping the legal background and measurement procedures in context, there are also legislative reforms and commission procedures that states have taken in order to ameliorate the problems that arise from gerrymandering.

Congressional term limits have been what restricted the amount of time that anyone can work in office whether it be to a representative, senator, or even the president. People have debated over keeping or losing the term limits, since each come with their own benefits and faults at the same time. In the argument for term limits, some may argue that they are necessary because, “Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves” (Weeks). The validity in this statement proves to be one of the strongest arguments because the creation of laws is mean to serve all people, and if the people in office had complete immunity, it would serve unfair and unjust to the rest of society. For this reason, it always will make those in office consider how impactful and

Gerrymandering is a process where the ruling political party uses the map of their state to draw lines that create voting districts in favor of their party. The result of this is that it doesn’t reflect the voters political views. For about 200 years the government has used gerrymandering during political elections and it continues to be used today (King, Elizabeth) . But recently gerrymandering has become more controversial because people feel that it has taken away their rights as a voter and it swings the votes to one side by a big percentage. Current cases are before the courts to decide if gerrymandering is legal. Some states have been discussing whether it should still be allowed during elections. “Many efforts are underway to remedy this political

Congressional reapportionment is the process were seats in the House of Representatives, are adjusted to accurately reflect the current population of the states. This means if a particular state’s population increases, the House must add seats accordingly. Same goes if a state decreases in population; a seats in the House may need to be removed. Representation Censuses and Congressional reapportionment are all precautions to assure the states, or more importantly, the people, are being represented accurately.

Gerrymandering has been around ever since the forefathers of America first started the nations democratic voting system. Gerrymandering is the redistribution of electoral district lines in order to give the redistributors an unfair political advantage (Elliot). While it is technically a legal practice, it allows the political parties in office to find a way to gain political advantages by separating minorities and voters of opposing political parties. The social inequalities and federal dishonesty associated with gerrymandering must be addressed and regulated as it poses a real problem for Americans as their votes are having less and less of an impact on elections.

Gerrymandering is the redrawing of political boundaries, otherwise known as district lines, in a state to give one party a numeric advantage over the opposing party. This is done by dividing districts up into highly irregular sections to achieve the goal of having voters from a particular party highly concentrated in some areas and thinly scattered in other areas (Donnelly, Fortune). Gerrymandering has been criticized because it violates the two basic principles in electoral designation; compactness and equality of size of constituencies in electoral designation (The Editors, Britannica). There is currently no law against the process of Gerrymandering. However, the current Supreme Court case Gill v. Whitford could change that.

what is this thing called Congressional Gridlock? My complete understanding of Congressional gridlock it is when government officials can’t compromise to pass laws. Gridlock happens when the government is mostly divided. Congressional Gridlock is when republicans and democratic branches are not unified. If the house has a majority of republicans and they pass a bill, and the president which is democratic he can decide to veto the bill. Then two thirds of the house required to pass a bill which is where our problem lies in voting. A huge problem when it comes to passing laws in the legislative and executive branch is voting one of the greatest problems is when the republican and democratic party are not unified. The concept of having a bicameral

The three-fifths compromise was a system to determine state representation in Congress by counting each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person. Proposed in 1787 by James Wilson and Roger Sherman, it clearly showed the strength of the proslavery forces during the time of the United States Constitutional Convention. Since the Virginia Plan was rejected, the three-fifths compromise was enacted as a new framework for the government. The Southern states demanded more representation politically because their population was vastly increased due to slavery. The Northerners viewed one free man as one vote and one slave not counting as part of the population while the Southerners viewed one free man as one vote as well as one slave as one vote. As a result, an agreement was reached between the states of lower and higher slave population.

To Gerrymander something is to manipulate the boundaries of a district to favor one party or class. The information used to choose how to manipulate districts is by census data which means district lines are usually redrawn every 10 years. Is gerrymandering a fair practice? Political parties that are currently in power would say that it is fair because gerrymandering the district lines that are drawn are reviewed by a judge and then made into districts that way. So that means it follows the proper system to do so. But, if you were in the same district and opposed the current political party, you might say that gerrymandering is unfair because they give the current party in power an advantage. It gives them an advantage because they are the ones that author the redrawing of districts.

As defined by the encyclopedia, gerrymandering is “The process of dividing a particular state or territory into election districts in such a manner as to accomplish an unlawful purpose, such as to give one party a greater advantage.” (Encyclopedia, 2016). In terms of politics, “it is usually used to adjust the populations of election districts to achieve equality in representation among those districts.” (Encyclopedia, 2016). Although, sometimes, it is used in unjust ways to manipulate the results of elections. A typical example of a political gerrymander is when a district of mostly democratic voters is required to

During political elections, or the presidential election per say, the election process can be hectic. Political parties strenuously work to convince people to favor their candidates. They perform this in order to receive political control and to rise in the governmental system. Two infamous political parties that are always competing are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The lure of gerrymandering is enticing because they take control of a state legislature by advancement of redistricting. It is an opportunity for the controlling party to fortify its power, by instance of district-to-district. However, for a minority party, this can be the opposite because it could be seen as an unfair abuse of power. Therefore, gerrymandering

When the Great Compromise was drafted and reached at the constitutional convention of 1787 it was did make sense to allow each state, regardless of population, to have to have an equal number of senators, as this allowed each state to have a voice within the Senate. It also made sense for purpose of legislature that the number of delegates from each state within the House of Representatives was based on each state’s population as it allowed for a semi true representation of the populations within all states. The representation was only semi true as the states only counted select portions of the people within the state, omitting women, Native Americans and only counting 3/5ths of the slave population.

A constituency is a group of individual voters in a specific area who elect a representative to a legislative body. Constituencies differ for representatives and senators:

In this article and from class material what examples can you identify that demonstrate Texas’ historical resistance to civil rights?

The Constitution has provided Article 1, Section 2 that states, Representatives… shall be appointed… according to… (population)…. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative; and until (a census is taken within three years) the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island… one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.”(Source: Constitution of the United States of America, 1787.) This states that even though that bigger states have more representatives, it puts the limit that the number of representatives for each state by ensuring that one state doesn’t exceed one for every thirty thousand people. This prevents tyranny in the House of Representatives. In Article 1, Section 3 it states, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislatures thereof for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.” (Source: Constitution of the United States of America, 1787.) This article means that every state has two senators so it doesn’t matter how big a population of a state is. This ensures that tyranny doesn’t