The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is defined as, the manipulation of the boundaries, of an electoral constituency, in order to favor one political party. Gerrymandering is used when it is time to re-draw voting boundaries, in a process known as redistricting, and the party in power wants to maintain power, so they draw the new boundaries in weird, elongated shapes. Gerrymandering has been implemented all over Texas.
Gerrymandering is usually practiced in three distinct forms: Wasted Vote, Excess Vote, and Stacked Vote. Wasted vote is used when the party in power, or in charge of the redistricting process has a higher support. To make sure they win a majority vote in every single district, they redraw the boundaries, so there is a slight majority of their supporters
…show more content…
This act, passed by the 89th Congress, is considered one of the most important Civil Rights acts ever passed. This bill allowed anyone, no matter what race, to vote freely, without worrying about being accosted of claims of illiteracy, insufficient education, etc… This contributed to the controversy in Texas, because the way voting districts were drawn at the time, using Stacked Vote gerrymandering, meant that districts were often times drawn based on race. Before the act was passed; this led to the white population in the districts—Remember this was during the Civil Rights Era—often times preventing the, “Colored Population”, from voting, citing reasons such as; Lack of Knowledge, and Illiteracy. This acts passing stopped all of that. The acts passing created another problem. There were thousands of new, colored people who could vote freely, without being bogged down with excuses why it wasn't right for them to vote. This new voting demographic, meant that the political parties were rushing to align themselves with this new group, in order to gain more votes. Since most districts in Texas are separated based on race, financial standings, and/or political viewpoints, many political candidates advertise their campaigns differently in different districts, determined by the aforementioned characteristics. This results in accusation from
Gerrymandering Benefit Political Parties
289 Words | 2 PagesThe three forms are: Wasted Vote, Excess vote, and Stacked vote. Wasted vote is the opposition supporters spreading across many districts as a minority. Excess vote is when the opposition supporters concentrate into
Federalist 10 Questions And Answers
1369 Words | 6 PagesRead Federalist 10 and answer the following questions? What are factions? Groups of people that hold a certain belief or have an idea different from other groups.
Gerrymandering Issue Essay
756 Words | 4 PagesGiven 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. A. Constitutionality & Legal Background The Pennsylvania State Constitution contains relevant clauses that must be applied to any redistricting plan.
Comparison Between Race And Gerrymandering
106 Words | 1 PagesHello Erik, I really like how you explain gerrymandering. I also agree with you that racial gerrymandering is worse than partisan gerrymandering. Gerrymandering altogether is bad and create a lot of problem and it mess with the result of the election. I really like it when you said “Racial gerrymandering is aimed towards a specific racial group and leads to the unfair and unequal treatment based upon race while partisan gerrymandering is not based upon race.” That pretty much sum it up
Should Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq Essay
593 Words | 3 PagesThe Electoral College is 538 electors who vote to choose the President and Vice-President for the United States of America. The candidate who receives a majority of electoral vote gets the chance to sit at the desk in the oval office. How the Electoral College works: Every four years, voters have the chance to vote for who they want to be President and Vice President, but the candidates who get the most votes wins the state's electoral votes. The 538 votes gets distributed to each state, each state start that with three votes, The remaining votes gets distributed according to the population of each state. When voters go to vote, they're basically telling their state they want it to use their Electoral vote.
Reapportionment And Redistricting Work
394 Words | 2 PagesWhat is a constituency, and why do constituencies differ for representatives and senators? 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: • Representatives – represent a district or area of a state and sometimes a whole state • Senators – represent the whole state Explain briefly how reapportionment and redistricting work? Why is gerrymandering frowned upon?
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
1008 Words | 5 PagesGerrymandering 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.
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
1389 Words | 6 PagesThe 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
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
442 Words | 2 PagesGerrymandering restrictions is likely to be a key topic of debate for the Supreme Court as partisan lines have tested the constitutionality of the act. While this process of redrawing boundary lines has been around for a long time, it is not the same that it once was. The act of gerrymandering and redrawing boundaries has become more of a drastic partisan act in the modern election world than ever before because of technology. The 1986 Supreme Court ruling in Davis v. Bandemer declared partisan gerrymandering for electoral advantage justiciable under the United States Constitution. The asymmetry standard in testing for gerrymandering states that the act needs to exhibit intentions that partisan gerrymandering would be recognized for its given distribution of popular votes, if parties switch who holds the popular vote and if the number of seats in a district would change unequally based on Supreme Court cases Vieth v. Jubelirer and LULAC v. Perry.
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
586 Words | 3 PagesThe party that is in office might say no, gerrymandering is not cheating because it isn’t always a safe bet that the party majority in that district will win. On the opposing side, they say that it would seem to take advantage and abuse the use of voter’s census information to manipulate districts. Are voters being manipulated into voting for one party over another to change districts? “The conditions under which election ballots are cast and counted—from registration to voting equipment, ballot design, polling locations, voter ID requirements, absentee ballots and early voting—are set in a very decentralized fashion and prey to political manipulation to advantage one party over the other.” Parties that are winning elections by gerrymandering think It isn’t feasible to draw district lines perfectly, they are sometimes misshaped because of varying populations.
Essay On Texas Government
944 Words | 4 PagesThe history of political parties in Texas is marked by nearly a century of Democratic Party dominance followed by a realignment that shifted the balance of power in favor if the republicans. Political science professor Cal Jilson noted that the dominance of one party in Texas has been a result of the state’s dominant values. Both parties in Texas today reflect more conservative versions of their national counterparts. The other chapter talks about the Interest groups in Texas. Interest groups plays a critical role in all democratic systems of government.
Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
982 Words | 4 PagesIs Gerrymandering a Controversial Topic? 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) .
Gerrymandering Pros And Cons
497 Words | 2 PagesGerrymandering is wrong because it does not let people have their proper voice in the government. An example of this process is the gerrymandering in Ohio. In the 2010 census,
Essay On The Voting Rights Act Of 1965
1821 Words | 8 PagesHowever, until today, African Americans still couldn’t get their real voting rights. This act doesn’t totally infer this situation, no matter how industrious blacks demand their completed fundamental rights. Except African American, within the United States, many minorities have struggled for their rights for many years. It is necessary for a government to protect all citizens’ rights, including the minorities. If the government couldn’t do that, as a citizen, we should speak out our perspectives by participating in the voting
Analysis Of Lyndon B. Johnson's Speech We Shall Overcome
930 Words | 4 PagesMany people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying
More about The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering Benefit Political Parties
289 Words | 2 PagesFederalist 10 Questions And Answers
1369 Words | 6 PagesGerrymandering Issue Essay
756 Words | 4 PagesComparison Between Race And Gerrymandering
106 Words | 1 PagesShould Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq Essay
593 Words | 3 PagesReapportionment And Redistricting Work
394 Words | 2 PagesThe Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
1008 Words | 5 PagesThe Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
1389 Words | 6 PagesThe Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
442 Words | 2 PagesThe Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
586 Words | 3 PagesEssay On Texas Government
944 Words | 4 PagesPros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
982 Words | 4 PagesGerrymandering Pros And Cons
497 Words | 2 PagesEssay On The Voting Rights Act Of 1965
1821 Words | 8 PagesAnalysis Of Lyndon B. Johnson's Speech We Shall Overcome
930 Words | 4 Pages