Gerrymandering & Redistricting
How drawing district lines can predetermine election outcomes, and the ongoing fight over fair maps.
Drawing Power
Gerrymandering is the deliberate manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a political party, group, or incumbent. The term dates to 1812, when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry approved a district so contorted it resembled a salamander. The practice is as old as single-member districts themselves, but modern computing and detailed voter data have made it far more precise and effective. Where a 19th-century mapmaker worked with county-level guesses, today's operatives can draw lines block by block using precinct returns, party registration, and consumer data, then simulate thousands of maps to find the one that squeezes out the most seats.
There are two main techniques. 'Packing' concentrates the opposing party's voters into a few districts where they win by overwhelming margins, wasting their surplus votes. 'Cracking' spreads the opposing party's voters across many districts so they fall short of a majority in each one. Used together, these techniques can transform a 50-50 state into one where the gerrymandering party wins 70 percent of seats. The key idea is the 'wasted vote': every vote cast for a losing candidate, plus every vote beyond the bare majority a winner needs, is wasted. Gerrymandering is the art of making the other side waste more votes than you do.
