The Detrimental Practice of Gerrymandering
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: The Detrimental Practice of Gerrymandering
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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In American politics today, many practices exist that greatly harm the American public. One of these dangerous
practices, known as gerrymandering, occurs in nearly every state. While some claim that the practice helps
America, in reality gerrymandering harms American democracy and safety. Gerrymandering greatly affects society,
and must become illegal to insure fair representation, the democratic processes in America continues, and
America continues to thrive.
When gerrymandering occurs, a political party draws the boundaries of an electoral district in a way that helps
their party win elections over the other parties. For example, if a Republican controls a state, and it appears like
the party will lose a seat in the future, the Republicans will draw the district in a way to exclude as many
Democratic voters as possible. Perhaps they will do this by removing a democratic stronghold from one district
and adding it to another district that will either easily go Republican or will have a Democratic representative no
matter what happens. Before 1964, the majority party could draw districts in any way they wanted to, and chaos
ensued. Consequently, in 1964, the U.S Supreme Court legislated that the districts “had to contain equal
population, and be as compact as possible” (“Gerrymandering”). Every ten years the U.S. issues a census to
determine the population of each state. After this, each state receives their share of the 435 seats, and then the
state gets to break the population into the corresponding number of districts. This whole process, known as
reapportionment, takes weeks to determine, and in many cases, courts must determine the shape and area of each
district. Even though the districts must contain equal population, gerry...