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The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering

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The Dark Side of Gerrymandering
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.
There are two common types of gerrymandering …show more content…

Republicans won again in a tight race against the Democrats, taking away 56% of the overall votes in the polls. However, Democrats ended up with only 5 out of the 18 seats in the House of Representatives (Gerrymandering Rigged). By winning 44% of the overall votes, the Democrats were only able to represent 27% in the House of Representatives due to the congressional districts drawn up by Republicans. This shows how large of an effect gerrymandering can have when used to its fullest extent. There is an uneven proportion of representation in the House of Representatives due to the congressional districts drawn up by whichever political party is in office. Republicans were able to successfully gerrymander and win elections not only in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but also in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and Tennessee. Democrats were also able to gerrymander and win in Maryland and Illinois (Gerrymandering Rigged). This shows how gerrymandering can affect the country as a whole, as most states are being heavily influenced by the representatives in office. Gerrymandering can affect not only state representatives, but the can also play a part in national elections. In the 2016 presidential election, this was evident as Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million votes, while Donald Trump ended up winning the electoral vote. By winning …show more content…

Some people could argue that gerrymandering is a favorable practice as it can increase the odds of their preferred political party to stay in office. However, gerrymandering acts as counter to the democracy of America by displaying a biased representation in government that contradicts the votes of the American people. There should never be a question as to whether or not boundaries are being drawn to “crack” or “pack” minorities into certain congressional districts, and congressional lines should be redrawn in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania so that they may be able to more accurately give representation as to how their citizens voted. By eliminating the social inequalities and federal immorality of gerrymandering, citizens in America will be able to hold equal voting power when it comes to electing

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