The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is a practice that stopped redistricting and goes to establish a political advantage for a specific party or group by manipulating district limits to create biased advantage districts. The process for making a congressional district map in Texas has grown more complex and significant over the years. Districts are usually drawn by politicians that typically have a vested interest in the effect of the new lines; according to laws and regulations they're subject to judicial review. This gives the state the power to control and maintain their districts. The disadvantage is that it allows representatives who could not otherwise get elected, to be elected. It’s prominent for the politicians yet not as much for voters who don’t hold …show more content…
The Federal judge John Hannah stated “The dominant political party treated all member of the opposing party as if they were “enemies of the state” instead of the respected state leaders, many with a great wealth of government knowledge and ability that has and would inure to be benefit of Texas” (133). The issue is that voting in Texas is so racially divided; discriminating against Democrats is equivalent to discriminating against minorities. Democrats fought to keep their place in legislature by concentrating on individual officeholders during the redistricting process. Republicans, instead of undertaking the chore of encouraging minority voters, would rather overpower their ability to choose their own representation.
When gerrymandering occurs, a political party draws the limitations of an electoral district in a way that benefits their party to win over the other parties. For instance, if a Republican controls a state, and it seems like the party will lose a seat in the future, the Republicans will draw the district in a way to eliminate as many Democratic voters as possible. In Texas, like most other southern states, the key for completing the transition from the traditional one-party Democratic rule to Republican control is forcing the Democratic incumbents out of the office (Winburn
Gerrymandering Benefit Political Parties
289 Words | 2 PagesGerrymandering is the process of redrawing boundaries to benefit the political party in power. An example is Nevada, in which the four districts show the three forms. Gerrymandering was made after Elbridge Gerry, who was the governor of Massachusetts and Vice President of the U.S., signed a bill that redistricted the state to benefit his party, which was later called Partisan Gerrymandering. An individual observed the oddly shaped district as a "gerrymander" causing a newspaper reporter to print a cartoon of a monster based on it.
The Texas Constitution
1046 Words | 5 PagesTexas is unusual in that its constitution is so lengthy and detailed that much policymaking must occur through the process of constitutional amendment rather than simply by lawmaking. If Texas were to have an income tax or to change its system for selecting judges, those changes would not come from statutes enacted by the legislature, but would have to be constitutional amendments
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
813 Words | 4 PagesThere 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
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
712 Words | 3 PagesWhat is “Gerrymandering”? which until now was something that never crossed my mind until I attended my Political Science class. Interestingly, Gerrymandering is a tradition vested for a political advantage by a political party to manipulate the district boundaries. Gerrymandering can also be used to utilize from a race, ethnicity, class groups or religion point of prospect, simply to benefit a political party. “The word “gerrymander” was coined at a Boston dinner party hosted by a prominent Federalist in March 1812, according to an 1892 article by historian John Ward Dean.
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.
Examples Of Gerrymandering
506 Words | 3 PagesGerrymandering is drawing political boundaries so that your political party has a numerical advantage over the other party.1 An illustrative example of how to win a district through gerrymandering from a Washington Post article is on the right. Gerrymandering could concentrate opposing votes into a few districts to gain more seats for a majority in certain districts. Gerrymandering can also be used to help or hinder a certain demographic, like a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group. For example, two terms used in gerrymandering are “packing” and “cracking”.
Examples Of Time To Put An End To Gerrymandering
950 Words | 4 PagesInstead of focusing on picking the right person to lead, the election had turned into a complexity of race. Isbell, had many meetings about Latinos losing their right to vote, but he chose to avoid anything that would make him look racist or critical. The U.S. District Judges Xavier Rodriguez and Orlando Garcia wrote in their opinion of gerrymandering in Texas that "The record indicates not just a hostility toward Democrat districts, but a hostility to minority districts, and a willingness to use race for partisan advantage,"(1). In addition, Nina Perales said, "The court's decision exposes the Texas Legislature's illegal effort to dilute the vote of Texas Latinos." (1), which means that having Latinos move to another district it equaled to less democratic voters and more republican voters.
Compare And Contrast The Political Culture Of Texas And The Media
1025 Words | 5 PagesIndividualistic values in Texas support government activity only “to the extent that it creates opportunity for the individual achievement.” (Texas Political Culture). In other words, Texans are in favor of a limited state government and only encourage government activity when it is needed to create individual opportunities. The practice of an individualistic culture in Texas has created hostile views towards the state and federal government, and discourage their involvement in a number of
Texas Political Culture Research Paper
799 Words | 4 PagesTexas Political Culture There are multiple classifications for political cultures Moralistic political culture- ones believe that the government should promote the public good and in order to ensure that good the citizens should participate in politics and civic activities Individualistic political culture- ones believe that the government must limit their role when providing to society in order to make the citizens able to pursue their economic interests Traditionalistic political culture- ones believe that the government should controlled by political elites and must be guided by tradition. Changes in Texas
Voter Participation In Texas Essay
680 Words | 3 PagesIn my essay I will provide three reasons why I do not believe Texas is operating within a democracy-a political system where the many rule. According to Author Robert Dahl, a democracy should provide opportunities for effective participation, equality in voting and inclusion of adults. There are socioeconomic factors- such ethnicity, education and income which are mentioned by author of our textbook, that impact voter participation. To begin, let’s look at the role a person ethnicity plays in a democracy. Next, examine the level of education and how it correlates to voting.
The Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
1370 Words | 6 PagesGerrymandering is a practice established to give an advantage to one political party over another by manipulating district boundaries. Gerrymandering all started in 1812 when Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. It was also used for racial reasons throughout history. The main goal of gerrymandering is to maximize the effect of supporters' votes and to minimize the effect of opponents' votes, and parties accomplish this by using tactics such as “cracking”, “packing”, “hijacking”, and “kidnapping”. Gerrymandering is a controversial topic in the Supreme Court, and there are many positive and negative outcomes that are a result of gerrymandering including polarization.
Pros And Cons Of Gerrymandering
982 Words | 4 PagesThis allows the politicians to select one representative from each district to represent the majority of the voters in that district. This can benefit a political party because it allows them to have more seats in the house. “Eliminating gerrymandering would not by itself dramatically increase the competitiveness of house and state….between the two major political parties” (Mann, Thomas
Gerrymandering Pros And Cons
497 Words | 2 PagesGerrymandering Position Paper Gerrymandering is the irregular redrawing of district lines to give one political party an advantage. Gerrymandering usually starts with a census. Every ten years, it is necessary to recount the people to redistribute the seats for the members of the House of Representatives. If a state gains or loses states it is necessary to reapportion the state.
What Is Congressional Reapportionment?
231 Words | 1 PagesThis process is called Congressional redistricting. Congressional redistricting is the redrawing of district lines according to the state’s numbers
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