WTF is gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering is when politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.
Which is, you know, the exact opposite of how democracy is supposed to work.
Here’s the gist:
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First comes the Census. Every 10 years we have a Census (the Constitution requires it).
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Then come the districts. Each state is divided into equally-sized state house, state senate, and congressional districts. That’s how we ensure that each person’s vote is “counts” the same.
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The devil is in the districting details. There are three ways districts are drawn:
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The State Legislature draws them
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An independent citizen commission draws them
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Some hybrid of citizens and legislators do it together
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Gerrymandering happens when state legislators draw the districts to protect their power.
Districts *should* be...
Compact: A district shouldn’t be stretched out or oddly shaped. The people who live in it are close together, and the shape makes sense geographically.
Contiguous: All parts of a should district touch each other. You should be able to travel from one end to the other without leaving the district.
Same size (proportional): Each district has about the same number of people so everyone’s vote carries roughly equal weight.
Keep communities of interest together: Voting districts should group together people with similar needs. So, for example, a community of farmers should be able to elect a representative who understands the needs of farmers.
Along city/county/municipal lines: Districts should follow existing boundaries such as city limits or county lines, so they match up with the places people already identify with.
Competitive: This one is not usually required by districting law, but voters should want it to be. Why? The more districts we have where either major political party (or viewpoint) has a fair chance of winning, the more responsive elected leaders will be to our needs.
But gerrymandering screws that all up.
Gerrymandering means the people in power redraw the lines to make sure they stay in power. They slash up voting maps into weird shapes to secure the election outcome they want. They do it with “cracking” and “packing”:
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Cracking: When a group of voters is spread across multiple districts to dilute their voting power
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Packing: When cracking isn’t possible, mapmakers clump as many of the other party’s voters into one single district as possible.
81% of state legislative races aren't competitive.
This rigged system has real consequences:
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In 2024, 81% of America's state legislative races were either uncontested or uncompetitive. That’s not a real democracy, but it is some real bullsh*t.
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Winners are decided before votes are cast, leaving communities voiceless.
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Folks feel like their votes don’t matter... so they don’t vote.
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State legislatures pass extreme laws, ignoring the will of the people.
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Elected leaders report to map-makers, not voters.
We deserve competitive elections that hold our leaders accountable.