Redistricting happens every ten years after the new census data of the population is updated. During this process, states with more than one representative are required to redraw congressional district maps based on the new data of the population. Redrawing the maps not only accounts for population shifts, but it also adds and removes congressional districts. This year, redistricting had a late start due to COVID-19, which delayed the census by almost four months. Usually the data used for redistricting comes out on April 1st, but this year it did not officially come out until August 12th, and it did not have user-friendly tables until September 16th. So far, 25 states have still not created new congressional district maps, and congressional redistricting has only been completed for 159 of the 435 seats of the House.
More often than not, politicians will use gerrymandering to redraw district maps. Through gerrymandering, politicians manipulate the boundaries of the electoral districts in a way that gives their political party an unfair advantage over its rivals.
Gerrymandering is not a new concept — it has existed for quite some time. The word comes from Elbridge Gerry, who manipulated the boundaries of the Massachusetts congressional maps to the Democrat-Republican advantage in 1812 as Governor. The shape of one of the resulting districts resembled a salamander.
Since then, many different ways and forms of gerrymandering have developed. The two basic techniques used today are called cracking and packing. Cracking refers to when groups of people with similar characteristics are split up among various districts. As a result, people in these groups struggle to elect their candidate of choice because their voting strength is divided. Packing is the opposite of cracking. Essentially, groups of voters are crammed into a small number of districts. These groups are likely to elect their preferred candidate in a few districts, but their voting strength is weak in the rest of the state.
There is another type of gerrymandering called prison gerrymandering. Prison gerrymandering is when the census bureau uses the prison's address while counting, rather than the actual address of the prisoner. Prisoners are counted as people in the census, but they still do not have the right to vote. This is an especially big issue in the U.S., which has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Due to prison gerrymandering, the population is boosted in regions that have large prisons. Because there is a population boost, these regions get more representation in government. Political power is transferred from suburban, urban, and more racially diverse areas to rural and predominantly white communities in which more large prisons are located.
As the redistricting process is happening right now, we are beginning to see some of the effects of new congressional maps. For instance, in the newly approved Ohio congressional maps, it is clear that gerrymandering tactics were involved. Republicans had control over the maps, and in order to keep their power, they manipulated the boundaries to their advantage. They used cracking and packing to divide and contain the minority voters in the three largest metro areas in Ohio. Due to this gerrymandering, many minority communities who vote Democrat have had their say in government diluted. The maps were passed without Democratic support. In 2018, Ohio voters passed a ballot proposal stating that there would need to be bipartisan cooperation. This year, however, there was no bipartisan cooperation, so the Democratic redistricting group filed a lawsuit against the new congressional maps. As a result, the maps will hold for four years rather than ten.
Over the past two decades, more and more problems have grown with redistricting. Both parties gerrymander — it is not just a one party issue. This year especially, gerrymandering is resulting in some district maps being more disjointed than ever before. Eighteen states have already drawn districts, and it is clear that some of them are heavily gerrymandered (see Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, and Illinois). Not only do these new maps influence the elections, but they influence who is at the table for laws, who passes laws, and which communities are represented for the next ten years.
Many groups around the country worked to change the redistricting process in 2018 because of issues with gerrymandering. Michigan started a ballot initiative that would have an independent citizen’s redistricting commission to draw new political boundaries. Similarly, Utah put forth a ballot proposal for an independent commission to advise Utah lawmakers. Arkansas also certified a ballot proposal to revise the redistricting process. These states are models for taking action to address problems with gerrymandering. However, there is still more progress to be made across the country. Many states do not have any restrictions for redistricting, which often results in their congressional maps being manipulated to a certain party’s advantage.
There are many possible solutions to prevent gerrymandering. One of the most common proposals is to use independent commissions. Several states already use this method, such as California, Colorado, Montana, Washington, and the examples I previously mentioned. Some people who support this policy also believe that these commissions should draw voter-determined districts. To give an example: if voters in a state favor a Republican candidate by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent, then the districts would be drawn to reflect that ratio (in this case there would be 60 percent Republican districts and 40 percent Democrat districts). Those in favor of this method believe that it would represent the voters as accurately as possible. Others believe that we need to completely change the political electoral system. They advocate for switching to a proportional representation system or ranked choice runoff method in order to prevent gerrymandering altogether. These two proposals are much more ambitious, as they would be more difficult to pass in Congress.
Gerrymandering is a prevalent issue in this country, and the best solution to fixing its problems is a heated and complicated debate. I am still not completely sure what the right answer is because there are many fair arguments in favor of different proposals. However, something must be done to help prevent gerrymandering. If redistricting is done well, and maps are not gerrymandered, states will be able to have meaningful representation in government that truly reflects voters’ wishes. State legislatures or redistricting commissions are provided certain criteria with which to draw the lines. These criteria are supposed to make districts easy to identify and understand, ensuring fairness and consistency. But current practices are undermining this goal. States thus need to take part in the necessary reforms and regulations in order for the redistricting process to work properly: to account for the changes in population and racial diversity, and above all, to fairly represent American voters.
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